Lipstick On Your Collar
by buckythirteen
Summary: I've binge-watched Supergirl and I figured it was time for my first Karlena fic. Lena tells Lex how excited she is to feel a connection with Kara, as Lex is the only one she ever thought truly cared for her. He sends her a good luck gift, but it doesn't help Lena, it helps him. Well, almost.
1. Lipstick On Your Collar

_'I know we don't see eye-to-eye but you're still my brother and besides... I don't really have anyone else to tell.'_ She wrote, flourishing her pen a little more than usual. _'There's this girl, her name is Kara. As soon as I met her, I liked her. You know. Liked her. She's so beautiful and intelligent and I've decided to ask her out. I just had to tell someone – you and I both know I don't have any real friends.'_

Lena signed off the letter, which had another page to it, and sealed it in an envelope.

 _'Your beloved sister, Lena x'_

She left her office and took Jess , her assistant, aside. "I need you to see that this is delivered securely to Lex," she whispered.

While they weren't exactly friends, Lena knew that she could trust Jess to do her bidding – if only because she knew of the hell that would rain down upon her if she disobeyed Miss Luthor's orders.

"Of course, Miss Luther," Jess nodded, slipping the letter straight into her satchel. "You have a visitor by the way, a Miss Danvers?"

Lena could feel her cheeks flushing just at the idea of Kara being within a ten foot radius, and she looked over at the small seating area at the end of the hall. Sure enough, Kara was stood there, clutching a folder to her chest. She gave a little wave and a small smile to Lena when they caught each others' eye.

"Of course, I'll see her right away. Move my three back half an hour for me?" She said to Jess, as she beckoned for Kara to join her in her office.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?" Lena asked smoothly, closing the door behind them and moving toward the countertop by it.

"Well," Kara began, tucking a stray strand of perfectly blonde hair behind her ear. "I've been given the opportunity to write an article for the next issue, and I heard about your gala and I wanted to delve a little deeper. It's a really good cause, and I guess I just wondered if – with your permission, obviously – I could cover the story and get the word out there a little more."

Lena had gestured to the counter as Kara talked, offering her a drink, but a wave of Kara's hand told her 'no thank you'.

"Well," Lena began. "Of course, I'm delighted that you want to cover a story for LCorp, but I'm afraid that particular one might be a waste of your time. The fundraiser is fairly well publicised and I wouldn't want you using up your time when something more important and less popular might be going on."

Kara hadn't thought of that – in all honesty, she'd come here just to see Lena. She'd been confused, the past week or so, about all the feelings stirring in her. It was all thanks to Alex and her coming out. Ever since, Kara had been analysing her own relationships with women. Particularly a brunette with a mixed accent and killer heels.

"Of course, I should have known, I'm sorry for wasting your time Miss Lu-"

"Please, it's Lena to you." Kara's cheeks turned slightly pinker. "How about I make you a deal?"

Kara tilted her head in confused interest. Lena thought she looked like a puppy listening harder to what you have to say.

"I have another gala to go to tomorrow, to make my surname look good. Go with me, and I'll make sure you get to report a little-known project close to my heart?"

"Attend a gala? With you?"

Lena nodded. "As my... plus one." She had wanted to say _as my date_ , but she didn't want to scare Kara off before they'd even had a chance to get to know each other better.

"I-I would love that, yes, definitely."

Kara's grin would have knocked Lena off her feet if she hadn't been in Business Mode for over eight hours.

"I'll have a car pick you up at, say, six thirty?"

"That would be great, thank you, Miss Luthor."

"Please. Call me Lena."

Kara swerved into a small alley behind the LCorp building, and took off into the air without hesitation. So many thoughts were swirling through her head that she didn't even realise how quickly she'd gotten to Alex's apartment, and before she knew it she had landed in the living room.

"Kara! What are you doing here?"

Alex was wrapped in a towel, having clearly just got out of the shower.

"It's an emergency!"

"What's happened?" Alex rushed forward and placed a hand on Kara's arm. Her face was the picture of worry. "Is it Winn? James? J'onn?"

Kara shook her head and gulped. "I... I think I have a date tomorrow night."

Once Alex was properly dried and dressed, the pair stood at the kitchen island with a coffee each.

"You _think_ you have a date tomorrow? You're not sure?"

Kara nodded. "I want it to be a date. I really badly want it to be a date, Alex."

Under any other circumstances, Alex probably would have poked fun at Kara for how stressed she seemed – but she could tell that this really was bothering her little sister, so she reached out and took her hand, and looked her in the eye.

"Then make it into a date."

"What? How?"

"Pull out all the stops. Look as good as you could ever possibly look. If it's a real date already, you'll look great. If it's not... Then if you look as good as I know you can look, it will become a date."

Kara narrowed her eyes. "Is that a thing?"

Alex laughed. "Yeah, I've done it. Hanging out with someone you really like, you maybe want it to go a little further, so you act as though it's a date. And sometimes it turns into one."

"And what if that backfires?"

" _Their_ loss."

Kara definitely did not miss the inflection Alex put on the use of the genderless pronoun.

"You know, don't you?" she asked, regarding Alex suspiciously.

"What do I know?" Alex couldn't help but smirk.

"That it's a woman."

"I know that it's Lena Luthor, yeah." Alex laughed at Kara's shocked face. "C'mon, Kara. You're totally fine all day long, then you have a very brief meeting with Miss Luthor and the first thing you do is fly to my apartment with your head in a spin? It's not subtle."

"It's not?" Kara bit her lip, almost embarrassed that she hadn't been able to keep her feelings inside for longer than the three minute journey between LCorp and Alex's place.

"Not to mention... Clark told me all about the way you two were looking at each other."

"The way we... All I did was make polite and friendly eye contact!"

Alex nodded and laughed again. "Yeah, but he said Lena was practically devouring you with her eyes."

Kara's mouth dropped open. "She was not! She was not... _devouring_ me!"

Alex just made a face, laughed again and finished off her coffee. "I bet she was stood there thinking... She could just eat you out. UP! I meant to say up!"

Kara had gone the brightest shade of red Alex had ever seen her turn in the whole time they'd known each other. Her eyes were flitting side to side and her mouth opening and closing repeatedly. She was muttering discombobulated words.

"Well, thats just, that's innapropri- that's just not- I'm leaving now."

Without a backward glance, Kara was up, up and away out of Alex's window. The agent just laughed to herself again, and muttered, "Looks like both Danvers daughters have had their gay awakenings."

 _'My dearest sister._

 _I'm glad to hear that you have connected so strongly to someone. Please, take this gift. No person can resist a woman wearing it._

 _Lex.'_

"It was delivered by courier," Jess informed her. "As per your protocol, we investigated it. There's nothing out of the ordinary – other than the nature of it."

Lena tipped up the envelope, and into her hand fell lipstick. "The nature of it?" Lena laughed. "I suppose, what kind of metahuman supervillain sends his little sister lipstick?" She inspected it further. It was a crimson, vaguely scarlet type of red. It reminded Lena of blood.

The next afternoon, Alex and Winn both went over to Kara's to help her choose an outfit to turn her 'friendly gathering' into a date.

"How am I even supposed to fit my costume under this?" Kara asked, turning side to side and looking at herself in the mirror.

Alex had chosen a tight, cyan blue dress that hugged Kara's body. It was sleveless, allowing Kara to show off her incredible arms. ( **/hghsmtq** )

"You don't, that's the point. You don't have to worry about anything tonight, okay?" Winn promised her. "You get to have fun tonight, we'll deal with anything that comes up. Supergirl has more than earned a night off."

Alex nodded in agreement.

They collectively decided that Kara should keep her hair down, as well as picking out some black pumps, and natural makeup (a pale pink lipstick to offset the bright blue)

Lena must have given Kara's number to the driver she was sending, because her phone rang at promptly six thirty, with a gentleman alerting her that he was outside and ready to go when she was.

Alex took hold of her little sister's shoulders, and looked her right in the eye. "We'll get the alien. You go get the girl."

Kara grinned brightly, picking up her purse and her phone.

"Don't hestitate to call me."

"Oh, we will hesitate, don't you worry," Winn laughed.

"Just have a good time," Alex told her seriously.

The pair stared at the door and listened to Kara clicking her heels down the hallway. "My little girl, all grown up," Alex smirked.

The ride to the gala was slow, and whilst Kara would have much preferred to fly, but if she were honest, she didn't want to mess up her hair before seeing Lena.

As they pulled up, Kara saw her maybe-date walking out of the venue in perfect time to open the door of the car for her.

"I'm so glad you could make it," Lena grinned brightly.

Kara's eyes were drawn straight to Lena's lips. They were the colour of blood, and Kara found that she actually thought it suited Lena. Not wanting to stare too long at those gorgeous, plump lips... Kara skimmed the rest of Lena's outfit.

Her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, which was easily Kara's favourite style on the CEO. Her dress was black and flowy, reaching Lena's ankles. The neck plunged straight past Lena's breasts, the V hidden under a golden belt-type of ornament. ( /jars5ao). Kara's first thought was that Lena was wearing the Millenium Puzzle around her neck, but it turned out to be a matching necklace.

"You look absolutely incredible, wow," Kara breathed, finally looking Lena in the eye.

"So do you," Lena breathed out gently. "Blue is a really good colour on you." Kara grinned brightly, and Lena held out her arm to be taken. "Shall we?"

Kara happily slipped her arm through Lena's, and was guided inside without protest from the doorman.

"I hate to drop this on you, but... One of my family members is here unannounced. My aunt. She's always nagging at me to settle down with a nice man, have children," Lena muttered as they made their way inside and towards the drinks.

"She just doesn't seem to grasp the idea that I'm not interested in men." Kara's heart skipped about three dozen beats in a fraction of a moment.

"Really? That's awful of her," she managed to get out smoothly, reeling from the knowledge that Lena might actually _like_ her – or that it was least within range.

Lena nodded. "I was wondering... You don't have to, but I thought, maybe-"

Kara's laugh cut her off. "You want me to be your girlfriend?" It took a moment to realise she might have missed out the word 'pretend', so she quickly fixed it, not wanting to scare Lena away before they even got to know each other. "Y'know, just for the night, so she might get the message?"

Lena let out a deep, grateful sigh. "Oh, would you? I mean if you're uncomfortable thats fine – I asked a straight girl to do this before and she wigged out on me."

Kara laughed again, looking sideways at Lena as they picked up a glass of champagne each. "It's okay, I'm pretty sure that I'm bi. I really don't mind pretending to be your girlfriend."

Kara wasn't absolutely sure where those words had come from, but in the moment of saying them she knew them to be true.

Lena's eyes lit up. She actually had a chance with Kara, and she couldn't have felt more elated.

"Oh god, here she comes," Lena said, and slipped her arm around Kara's waist, pulling her close against her side. Kara leant in against Lena, feeling like she fit perfectly right there.

"Aunt Abigail, so glad you could make it!" Lena blatantly lied, leaning forward to do air kisses with the older, red-haired woman.

"I wouldn't miss this for the world, darling," she said, with an upper-class English accent.

She regarded Kara with nought but a glance, and looked back at her niece. "Who is this friend of yours?"

"Aunt Abigail, this is my girlfriend, Kara. Kara, Aunt Abigail."

Kara's heart skipped another two dozen beats at hearing _Lena Luthor_ saying the words 'my girlfriend, Kara'. She recovered just in time to hold her hand out to Abigail. "So nice to meet you, Lena has told me lots about her family."

"Including her brother, the mass murderer?" Abigail said snobbily, merely glancing at Kara's outstretched hand and then looking at Lena yet again.

"Laney, darling, we've talked about this. It's time you found yourself a husband!"

"I don't need or want a husband, Aunt Abigail. I've told you a thousand times. I'm gay. I'm really, really gay and I don't want a husband. I have Kara."

At her aunt's practically _disgusted_ look, Lena turned her head, pulled Kara closer by the waist and kissed her firmly.

It took Kara by surprise, but she melted into it, and within moments Aunt Abigail was nowhere to be found.

They broke apart after a few moments, moments that seemed like eternities.

"Wow," Lena breathed out, smiling gently.

Kara was breathing quite heavily. "I feel... really dizzy," She mumbled out, before her legs gave way and she fell forward into Lena. Lena did her best to hold Kara up, but she slowly slipped to her knees.

She felt like she couldn't breathe properly, and as she stared up at the ceiling it had begun to go blurry. There was a green tinge around her vision. She raised her hand in front of her face, and saw that her veins were glowing the faintest of greens.

"No," she whispered, her hand flopping back down– but Lena caught it. "It can't be, not Kryp-"

"Kara, oh my god, are you alright?" Lena's face moved into blurry sight, and Kara could see that her lipstick was smudged. She brought her own hand up to her mouth and rubbed. It stung her skin.

"Let's get you some air," Lena suggested, hauling Kara up and steadying her.

"Bathroom, bathroom, please," Kara mumbled. While she didn't particularly want to cling to Lena for dear life at the moment, she had to, as she was finding it hard to walk without guidance.

Once they were inside the ladies room, Kara gestured vaguely to the cold tap on one of the sinks. She knew, if she tried to turn it gently in her state, it would be ripped clean off.

She steadied herself against the sink as Lena turned the tap on. Kara thrust her hands under the cool water, using her nails to scratch at her skin, anywhere the lipstick had touched. Once her hands no longer stung she did the same to her mouth, chin, cheeks.

The pain stopped almost completely, and Kara's vision started to go back to normal. She slumped against the bathroom wall, eyeing Lena carefully.

"Are you alright?" She asked quietly, taking one of the hand towels from a rack and running it under the cold water. She moved forward, and made to dab Kara's face with the wet corner. As much as Kara tried to hide it, Lena saw her flinch.

"Who told you?" Kara sighed, feeling as though her strength was starting to return. Lena looked well and truly confused. "Who told you?" She repeated, louder and angrier.

"Told me what?"

Kara stood, drawing herself up and holding herself as Supergirl would.

"Kara, I don't understand."

There was a large part of Kara that could feel the truth emanating from Lena – that she truly didn't know what was going on.

So Kara stepped forward, gently placed her hands on Lena's cheeks. She made to kiss her again, but dipped her nose down slightly. It was mere milimetres from Lena's lips, and she could smell it.

"Take it off," she demanded, pulling back up against the wall. Lena was baffled. "Your lipstick. Get it off."

Truthfully, Lena was slightly scared of Kara's behaviour in that moment. So she did as she was told, running the warm water and using the damp towel to rub away all the traces of her lipstick she could find.

When she was done, she dared to look into Kara's eyes. They were ablaze with anger, but Lena no longer felt like it was directed at her.

When she spoke this time, Kara's voice was much softer, quieter, gentler. She reached out and placed a hand reassuringly on Lena's arm. "Where did you get that stuff?"

"I..." Lena didn't want to admit the truth. She'd bragged to her brother about going on a date and this is what happens? "I sent Lex a letter yesterday telling him... Telling him that I was going to the gala with you. He sent it to me this morning. He said... no one would be able to resist it."

Kara's gaze dropped to the floor, and she analyzed the pattern in the tiles while she thought about this information.

"Please, don't go," Lena said quietly. "I don't want to be here alone – and after whatever just happened to you, you shouldn't be alone either."

Aunt Abigail burst into the ladies room. "What is going on in here? People are asking questions!" (Aunt Abigail hated it when people asked questions).

Lena was the first to the post with a believeable lie. "I'm sorry, Aunt Abigail. I had caviar with my lunch, and it turns out Kara is really badly allergic. We're just getting her tidied up, we won't be much longer."

Abigail nodded abruptly, and left the room. Kara wasn't sure she believed their story – but her full strength was back now, and she felt normal again.

She wet her face one more time to wake her up, then slipped her phone out of her purse. She shot off a quick text to Alex, asking to meet her in National City park in twenty minutes.

"Listen, Lena," Kara began. She reached out and placed a hand on Lena's cheek. "I really like you. I really, _really_ like you, okay?" Lena smiled the ghost of a smile, expecting a 'but'. "But there's something you need to know. And we should go somewhere more private to discuss it."

Lena nodded. "Of course, anything. The park is across the street, we can go there, if you want?"

"That's exactly what I was thinking." Kara smiled nervously.

She knew Alex would never approve of what she was about to do, but if she was right, then it changed everything – and it was only right that Lena knew exactly what she was getting involved in.

Lena made an excuse to those she knew that Kara still wasn't feeling well after the allergy incident, and that they'd be heading home now.

Lena had taken a seat on a park bench, and Kara was pacing nervously back and forth in front of her.

"Kara. Just tell me."

The blonde took a deep breath, and turned to face Lena, looking her right in those incredible eyes.

"I'm Supergirl," she said quickly, dropping her arms to her sides.

Lena let out a small chuckle. "Don't be ridiculous." Kara took off her glasses. "I don't see it." Kara made to remove her dress, and remembered her costume was nowhere to be found because Alex demanded she didn't wear it tonight.

Instead, she decided to move toward Lena, and lift up the bench she was sitting on, with just two fingers. She didn't even break a sweat.

Lena stared at her in awe, shock and reverence. "Oh my god."

"Yep."

"I kissed Supergirl!"

"No, Lena, that's not the point here," Kara sighed, but she was smiling nonetheless. "Well, I guess it's related... When we kissed, I was almost totally incapacitated. I couldn't breathe. I could barely see or move – and it was painful. So, so painful.

"I could taste it. I could smell it on you – I can still smell it on you, to be honest."

"Smell what on me?"

"Kryptonite. It's the only thing my people are weak to. It causes us physical harm, sometimes irreversibly so. It's in the lipstick Lex sent you. Kryptonite is what he used to hurt my cousin."

"And now he's using it – and me – to hurt you?"

Kara nodded. "He must know about me, and my secret identity. He wouldn't just send you Kryptonite lipstick in the hope you might go out there and make out with Supergirl or Superman, surely?"

Lena folded her hands in her lap, and stared at them. "You thought I'd done it, didn't you?" She said quietly.

Kara moved forward and crouched down in front of Lena, resting her hands gently over the brunette's clenched fists.

"I did, and I'm sorry. I assumed the worst – it was all so sudden. Kryptonite really messes us up."

"It's okay, I understand."

Kara squeezed Lena's hands, and placed a chaste kiss to them. While she'd love to kiss her again properly, she couldn't possibly risk touching those trace amounts of Kryptonite.

It was then that Alex joined them. "Hey, I got your – Kara, where are your glasses?" She asked hurriedly.

"It's okay. She knows," Kara shrugged, maintaining her place crouched in front of Lena.

"You told Lena Luthor that you're Supergirl? Are you out of your mind?"

"No, Alex, I'm not. She needed to know."

"Why on Earth and why on Krypton would a Luthor _need_ to know?"

"Because I could've been really badly hurt tonight, Alex," Kara said simply, looking up at her sister. "Lena needed to know the truth. I couldn't just say 'sorry I have to go' after what happened tonight."

"What happened tonight?" Alex sounded worried now.

Kara could feel warm droplets of liquid splashing onto her hands, and her gaze shot to Lena. She was crying. One hand hurriedly trying to wipe tears away, the other holding Kara's hand so hard that it might have hurt if she were human.

"Lena, please, it's not your fault," she whispered gently.

Lena looked up at Kara, and then at Alex. "My brother. He used me to hurt Kara."

They spent a further half hour in the park, huddled together on the bench, telling Alex everything that had happened. Lena admitted she hadn't put the lipstick on until she knew Kara was pulling up outside.

"Let's get over to the DEO," Alex suggested with a sigh. "We can analyse the lipstick there, find out what kind of concentration the Kryptonite is and how badly Kara could've been hurt."


	2. News Travels Fast

"From what we can gather, the lipstick has an 85% concentration of Kryptonite," Winn informed Kara, while she sat on a bed in the medical bay of the DEO. Alex was holding her hand – it was best they check for any additional damage to Kara.

"If Kara had been... uh... _exposed_ , shall we say, for any longer, it could have been pretty bad," Winn finished, his trusty tablet in hand.

"And where is Lena now?" Kara asked, getting down from the bed and straightening her skirt.

"J'onn escorted her back to L-Corp. He's standing guard," Alex told her. "We can't be certain Lex won't have found out his plan didn't work, he could retaliate against Lena."

Kara nodded, and turned to the medical technician.

"Everything seems alright with you, Miss Danvers," she smiled gently. "But may we speak for a moment? Privately?"

Kara narrowed her eyes. Winn left the room, but Alex stayed put. "Anything you say to me, Alex can hear it," Kara told the woman.

She hesitated, and hugged her clipboard to her chest. "Well, it's just that... As you know, like all radioactive materials, Kryptonite leaves behind a residue. Even the smallest amount of exposure might cause you to be hurt. I just wanted to..." She stopped there, blushing.

Alex gave her a look that told her to continue, or regret it.

She gulped. "I wanted to warn you not to kiss Lena Luthor for another... month or so? That's how long it could take for the Kryptonite residue to leave... her lips."

Alex and Kara both turned a deep shade of red. The technician handed Kara a small device, and excused herself.

Kara looked down at it. "It's a... handheld... Geiger counter," she mumbled.

"You should go check that Lena is okay," Alex smirked. "No kissing, obviously."

Kara nodded and laughed, embarrassed, and waved behind her at her sister as she left the room.

Within minutes she'd landed on the balcony of Lena's office.

Lena had been sitting on her sofa, facing the large windows and working on the coffee table so she could keep an eye on the sky. J'onn was presumably right outside the door.

"Kara!" Lena stood, spilling paperwork all over the floor, and rushed to hug the blonde.

"I was so worried about you. J'onn told me I couldn't come to the DEO in case Lex had me bugged or tracked or something."

Lena placed a hand gently on Kara's cheek, and slowly started to lean in.

Instead of finding Kara's supple lips like she had earlier in the night, she found them pressed against cold metal. A clicking noise started, and she opened her eyes.

Kara was pressing the sensor from the mini Geiger counter against Lena's lips, with one arm wrapped around her waist.

"Yep, Shannon was right," Kara sighed sadly, slipping the counter into Lena's hand. "The Kryptonite leaves behind traces, like any substance. Sadly, there's no kissing for us until it's all gone." She whispered this, just in case J'onn was listening.

Lena couldn't hide her smirk. "Not even on the cheek? I can't put my lips anywhere else?"

Kara went red once again – she was becoming more accustomed to this blushing thing. "Sadly not."

She took Lena's hand in hers, and brought it to her mouth, kissing the back of it. "Mine are fine, though. I'm sure they won't hurt you."

"Unless I ask you to, hopefully," Lena murmured, gently nudging her nose against Kara's.

Kara turned Lena's head and placed an affectionate kiss to her cheek.

"I hate to interrupt," J'onn said from the door. "We do have an armed robbery on the other side of town."

"That's my cue," Kara sighed, kissing Lena's other cheek. She squeezed her hand and took off from the balcony.

"If you break her heart..." J'onn began, folding his arms.

"Alex said the same thing," Lena interrupted. "As did Winn. And James. Evidently, there would be a queue."

Just as soon as Lena had filed her documents away, there was a huge explosion on the floor below.

J'onn was in the office like a shot. "We need to get you out of here," he said, as he transformed into his true form. Lena didn't even bat an eyelid at him.

"Not without seeing to my employees being safe," she laughed at him.

Lena rushed over to a cabinet by her minibar. Using her thumb print and retinal scan, she unlocked a safe and took out a sidearm and three additional magazines.

"You know how to use that thing?"

"Stick 'em with the pointy end?" she laughed again, and brushed past him out the door. From her movements as he followed, J'onn could tell she had tactical training.

Together with the L-Corp security team, they evacuated and cleared the building in record time for such a large place.

Lena and J'onn made sure to check the bathrooms on every floor, but when they got closer to the ground floor, there was a problem.

Lena entered the ladies room, only to hear the lock on the door click shut behind her. She whirled around, and her gun was knocked from her hand.

"Someone wants a little word with you, Miss Luthor," they said with an English accent. She knew the man's face, but couldn't place it. Three other men stepped ominously out of the cubicles behind her. "Come quietly," the stranger threatened, holding up what looked like a detonator, "or your lovely building topples over."

Lena was just seconds from fighting back, when the door was yanked out of it's frame.

"Oh, I'm sorry, is there a queue?" Supergirl asked, stood there in all her glory. She seemed to have taken the guys by surprise, and it allowed Lena to spin around and punch one of the guys in the face.

Together, they handled the room full of chiselled and armed guys.

Lena came out the other side with a bloody nose, and Kara led her down the hall while J'onn put the men in restraints.

"The robbery was a diversion," they said at the same time. Kara smiled.

"I'm taking you to the DEO, you'll be safer there."

She took a step back and used her x-ray vision on Lena, checking her for any devices Lex might have planted. Kara reached into Lena's jacket pocket and pulled out a tiny little chip. "Tracker," she sighed, crushing it between her fingers. "How much do you hate flying?"

Lena groaned slightly. "A lot."

"Then I'll make it quick," Kara smiled, slipping her arm around Lena's waist and pulling her in close.

Lena rested her head on Kara's shoulder and clung to her tightly. "Did you see my underwear when you did that?" She asked as they flew across town.

Kara tried her best to hide an embarrassed smile, but Lena could see it.


	3. Bring Me The Moon And Stars

"Kara!" Lena grinned, hearing her office door open and looking up. "What are you doing here?" She asked as Kara leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.

"Well, I know that you work through breakfast. And lunch. And Dinner... So I thought I'd change it up a little," Kara smiled at her, hands in her dress pockets.

Lena tilted her head, touched by the fact that Kara thought about her. "It's almost nine at night, where are we supposed to go for dinner?"

Kara grinned sheepisly. "Well, we'd have to fly there..." Lena groaned, "But I promise it will be worth it!"

The pair looked into each other's eyes. Lena was trying to talk Kara out of flying her wherever they were going. Kara just stared lovingly back, and Lena was unable to resist any longer as she saw the true affection looking at her.

"Fine. Let me just put this aw-" Before she could finish her sentence, Kara had used her super speed to tidy the office, then returned exactly to the spot she was originally stood in, now changed into her Supergirl outfit. "I guess I'm ready to go, then," Lena laughed.

She picked up her phone and slipped it into her purse, then cuddled up to Kara's side.

Within minutes, the pair were landing on a large hillside, and Kara dropped them down gently onto a classic red-white plaid picnic blanket. They were high on a hill just outside the city, looking over the river, with a fantastic view of the National City skyline.

Lena was blushing quite brightly, looking around at what Kara had prepared for them. The food was even in a wicker basket.

A white wine was sitting in a bucket of water, with two glasses next to it.

"No, it melted!" Kara whined. She crouched down and gently used her freeze-breath on the water to turn it to ice. She stood and turned to Lena, grinning brightly. "What do you think?"

She could see tears welling in Lena's eyes and her smile immediately dropped. "Is this not okay? I'm sorry, I should have cleared it with you, are you afraid of heights? Do you not drink?" She trailed off, as Lena had turned to her laughing, with the brightest smile Kara had ever seen in her whole life.

"It's wonderful, Kara, thank you," she said, wiping her eyes and pulling Kara in for a hug (she would have kissed her, but given the circumstances...).

Kara kissed Lena's cheek, changed out of her costume, and they both pulled back to sit down on the blanket. "I thought... Maybe it was time for our first date?" Kara asked nervously, as Lena reached for the wine. "But if you don't want it to be, that's-"

Lena looked at her as if to say 'don't be ridiculous'. "It's a wonderful first date, Kara, thank you," she said, straining with the cap of the wine bottle.

Kara took it from her hands and removed the cap with ease.

"I loosened it..." Lena muttered, laughing.

"Obviously," Kara grinned. "Now, I didn't know quite what to pack, so Alex made us a lasagne, and packed a cheesecake. Oh and we have some little snacks too!"

She had unpacked each item as she mentioned it. Lena surveyed the meal in front of them, and tilted her head. "Don't you need to consume, like, what, ten thousand calories a day?"

Kara laughed and opened the other half of the wicker basket, revealing three take-away tubs full of potstickers. "I got that covered," she grinned.

Lena poured the wine for them both, and opened the tupperware container with the lasagne. "We're not gonna eat it cold, right?"

Without being prompted, Kara used her heat vision to warm up the food.

"You being an alien is so handy," Lena smirked, but then her smile disappeared. "Listen, about the whole alien detection device thing..."

"No, don't worry about it, it's already in the past."

"Kara, no, it's important." Kara nodded, telling Lena to continue. "It was wrong. Bottom line, it was really wrong and actually a really bad idea. And I mean, yeah, it would make LCorp millions of dollars... But it would also make the lives of aliens a misery, if someone were to walk up to them on the street and force them to prove they were or weren't an alien. Not to mention, if they get shown to be an alien, what if they get attacked? It was wrong, and I've cancelled everything to do with the project. Every piece of data we had on that device has been destroyed, no one will get their hands on it."

Kara shuffled closer to Lena on the blanket – she didn't feel the cold, but she'd caught Lena shiver as she was talking. Kara was leaning back on her arm, with her hand on the blanket right behind Lena's... well, _behind_.

"That's very noble of you," Kara smiled, holding a fork out to Lena. "Thank you, I'm glad."

They clinked their glasses together, and each took a large gulp.

"I really needed this tonight," Lena admitted, taking a large forkful of the now-steaming lasagne. "I have this huge deal coming up with a company in Germany, and they're making so many demands it's just freaking me out.

"It's like, Ändern Soe die Farbe! Machen Sie es größer! Machen Sie es kleinwe! And I'm juse like, dudes, chill!"

It really threw Kara for six to hear Lena speaking another language – especially one she'd always found very powerful and attractive.

"You speak German?" she smiled at Lena.

The brunette nodded, blushing slightly. "The things you learn at boarding school, huh? German, French, Russian, lesbianism," she laughed openly, and Kara loved the sound.

"What did you say in German just now?"

"Basically they're always wanting to change the way the product looks. Change the colour, make it bigger, make it smaller."

Kara nodded in understanding. She'd already eaten her half of the lasagne, and moved on now to her first tub of potstickers.

"The only other languauge I speak is Kryptonian," Kara shrugged. "And when there's only like three other people in the world who speaks it, it kinda sucks."

"Say something in it," Lena asked, taking Kara's hand. Kara blushed and thought for a moment.

"Kahp sem vo dhaikh raup," _(I want to kiss you)_ she muttered, resting her forehead against Lena's.

Lena bit her lip. Unbeknownst to Kara, she had studied Kryptonian after leaving college. Lex had practically forced her.

"I think you'll find that five other people speak it," Lena whispered back. "And if you _did_ kiss me, it wouldn't be very fun for you, now, would it?"

Kara pulled back in shock. "Let me get this straight. You speak English, Russian, German, French... and _Kryptonian_?!"

Lena nodded, almost embarrassed. "That's awesome! How did you learn it? I mean, J'onn learned from Kal-El years ago, Winn learned it like last week from both J'onn and Kryptonian tech..."

"Lex taught me," she admitted, taking another sip of wine. "He hated your cousin to the point where he felt he had to understand every facet of him, so he studied your language for years. After I left college, he had me learn it too. I guess he wanted me to, I don't know, follow in his footsteps."

"Raup nan ni kep shed." _(You are your own person)_ Kara softly kissed Lena on the cheek, and then took a moment to stare longingly at her lips. "I'm so mad that Lex did this. Surely he understands how hard it is to be faced with a pretty girl like you, and be completely unable to kiss you properly? Like it's physically painful..."

Kara had gotten closer as she spoke, and was mere millimeters from Lena's lips before she was pushed away. "It would be far more physically painful if you _did_ kiss me," she sighed sadly. "And it's harder for me. You can kiss me all you like, but I can't even let my lips brush your hand," she said, bringing Kara's hand up and holding it to her chest.

"Please," Kara whined, unable to take her eyes off of Lena's lips.

"It's not worth you getting hurt. When this radiation is gone, our first real kiss is gonna be great, and not painful for you at all. I'm never going to let you get hurt again."

They were distracted, then, by fireworks flying up into the sky over the city.

"Was this your doing, too?" Lena asked, cuddling up against Kara's side. Kara wrapped her arm around Lena's waist and shook her head.

"No, actually."

Lena pointed at a green one that flew upwards. "That one's near the LCorp building." Another green one flew up the other side of the city. "One for CatCo."

They watched for a few more minutes, as all kinds of colours flew up into the sky.

Another green one flew up into the sky, coming in their direction, and exploded almost right above them.

"When I first came to earth, I was thirteen. My planet had just exploded, and not a week later it was Independence Day here. I freaked out, I thought Earth was going up in smoke as well. It took Eliza and Jeremiah almost two hours to explain it to me," she said, coughing a little at the end of the sentence.

As Lena started to respond, Kara coughed even more. Lena furrowed her eyebrows. "Are you alright?"

Kara nodded, coughing again. "Probably just the ash," she said, taking a deep breath – and then she could taste it in the air. "Oh, no, Lena we have to go," Kara said, standing up. She nearly fell over in the process, but she grabbed their purses and hoisted Lena to her feet. She made to take off in flight, but she barely reached an inch off the ground before she dropped back down.

"Shit, shit, shit!" She groaned, rummaging for her phone and dialling Alex's number.

No answer.

She tried Winn instead.

No answer.

"J'onn, pick up, please," she said, sitting down so her head wasn't spinning so much.

"Kara?"

"J'onn! The fireworks," she coughed again. "They're Kryptonite!"

"Where are you?"

Kara was starting to feel funny, and had trouble responding. Lena took her phone from her. "J'onn? We're on a hill, just outside the city. Yeah, one came straight at us and went off above us. Kara started reacting to it. No, she can't fly right now."

It was barely two minutes later that J'onn was landing in front of them.

Kara was curled up on the picnic blanket, with Lena gently stroking her hair.

"Get Kara to safety first," she told J'onn, watching helplessly as he hoisted Supergirl into his arms. "I can get myself out of here."

He shook his head. "I'm strong enough for both of you – this isn't just about Supergirl, Lena, this is aimed at you also."

The only possible configuration for them to both hold onto J'onn whilst flying, was to give Kara a piggy-back ride and hold Lena to his front.

"One of them went off by the DEO, so we'll have to go to the other premises in the desert," He told them while he flew. "Winn, Alex and my team are meeting us there."

"Some first date," Kara called from over his shoulder. Lena couldn't help a small laugh.

"One of these days," She promised Kara.

It didn't take long to get to the DEO premises. Winn and Alex were both already there, and Kara was surprised to see Maggie too.

"What are you doing here?" J'onn asked, eyeing her and Alex carefully.

"We were hanging out, I wanted to see what I could do to help," Maggie told him confidently. "I know what it's like to be attacked because of who you are. I'm not about to stand by while it happens to a community I support."

He regarded Maggie for a moment, carrying Kara in his arms. "Then please escort Miss Luthor to a decontamination chamber. They're just down the hall." The pair walked away briskly. "Alex, you need to get K-Supergirl out of these clothes and seen to." He had quickly corrected himself from saying 'Kara', as he didn't know if Maggie knew about Supergirl's secret identity.

Alex nodded, and to Kara's surprise she was able to carry her gracefully after Lena, also heading for decontamination.

Kara's vision was a blur, but she could see enough to notice that Alex's tshirt was on both inside out and back-to front. The label was poking her in the face. "So. You were with Maggie, huh?"

"There are more important things to talk about right now," Alex sighed, setting Kara gently on the bench in the decon chamber. From carrying Kara, she had been exposed too, so they both stripped to their underwear and Alex hit the necessary buttons.

"Nothing is more important to me right now than my sister's love life," Kara smiled dreamily. It seemed the Kryptonite was affecting her more this time around.

"Fine," Alex said over the spraying water, "We were together."

"Just promise you'll put your clothes on the right way when we get out of here."

Alex's eyes widened, and she looked over at her discarded shirt. She'd taken it off wasit-up over her head, so it should have been inside out. It wasn't.

"She seems nice," Kara sighed, her vision and feeling coming back to her now that the fans were replacing the air in the chamber with clean stuff. "It was nice of her to come and help."

In the decon chamber across the hall, Maggie and Lena were both stood in their underwear too, now being gassed to get rid of any remaining Kryptonite.

"This isn't awkward at all," Lena laughed, regarding Maggie. "You know your panties are inside out, right?"

Maggie quickly looked down and her mouth fell open. "Uh, yeah they're not supposed to be. Turn around."

Lena did as instructed and allowed Maggie her modesty while she changed them around.

"The sisters in one, their girlfriends in another," Lena laughed again. The decon chamber door opened and they stepped out, each grabbing a towel and a pair of navy blue scrubs.

"It's been a long time since I wore a pair of these," Maggie smirked. "Dated this trauma surgeon a while back. Our clothes ended up in her yard one night, and her dog really liked how chewable they were. Had to get the bus home in a pair of these."

Lena laughed, pulling the shirt over her head. "I hooked up with this girl a couple years ago. She was pretty rough, ripped a chunk out the side of my dress, where my waist would go. Next morning I cut a matching hole the other side and told my driver I'd brought something to change into. He didn't believe me one bit, but that's cause he knows me so well."

"How do you think they're getting on in there?" Alex asked Kara quietly, stood in the hallway waiting for their girls to come out.

Just then, Maggie and Lena both exited, laughing together.

"Guys?" Winn called, appearing at the end of the hallway. "We have a problem."

He rushed off to the bullpen, and the four ladies followed.

"So I sent out a couple of the DEO's wonderful recon drones, outfitted with air filtration sensors. They did a sweep of the city, and about a quarter of it has been affected by Kryptonite."

"That's a lot of city I can't go to," Kara said, folding her arms across her chest.

"That's not the worst part," Winn said, grimacing. "Everywhere that's been affected, it's literally any place that Kara Danvers goes. CatCo, LCorp, Newnans, your apartment block, plus mine, Alex's, James' and Lena's. They're all off limits to you right now."

"How do we combat it?" J'onn asked, appearing in his own pair of blue scrubs. A couple of agents behind him were busying themselves deconning the airlock they'd come in through.

Winn gestured to them. "Basically, we need to do that to the whole city."

"But you said only a quarter had been affected?" Lena asked.

"Well yeah, but humans won't have noticed the whole shebang. We can't put out a quarantine alert, there'd be city-wide panic. Citizens don't know they shouldn't go anywhere, so we can't guarantee that kryptonite won't be carried all around the city.

"And just how do we go about decontaminating an entire city?" Maggie chimed in.

"We do exactly what just happened to you guys, but on a huge scale. We'll need about 35 gallons of each element. Supergirl and J'onn will have to fly over the city distributing the distilled water, you just need to make it seem like it's raining. Same again with the cleaning agent. I can program a few more drones to distribute the gas."

"Just say when," J'onn nodded.

"Well, as soon as possible really. We can't risk the Kryptonite seeping into objects or people, or it could be up to a year before Supergirl can save someone without the risk."

Everyone sort of stood around, and J'onn looked around at them in confusion. "You heard the man. Get to work!" The agents started scurrying around. Winn sat down at the desk and started writing the algorithm for the drones.

Kara, Lena, Maggie and Alex remained stood around, watching everyone do their jobs.

"I should gear up," Kara sighed. She gave Lena a chaste kiss on the cheek and squeezed her hand. "I want you to stay here, where Lex can't get you, okay?"

"I really don't think he's after me, he's after you. You're Supergirl, I'm just Lena," she said quietly.

Kara looked at her as if she had suddenly sprouted another head. "Are you kidding? You're incredible." Kara grinned. She kissed Lena's cheek again and then headed off to prepare.

Maggie smirked at Lena. "You're dating Supergirl," she told her. "You gotta be _pretty awesome_ for that."

Lena blushed slightly, but then turned business mode.

"I know for a fact that Lex will have been behind this," She said, folding her arms and looking seriously at both Alex and Maggie. "I think we should go and see him, get the truth, find out why he's doing this, why he's using me like this."

"What do you mean, using you?" Maggie asked, as the trio made their way to the armory, led by Alex.

"He sent me a lipstick with Kryptonite in it," Lena told the shorter woman. "He knew how much I liked K-Supergirl-"

"You know you guys can just say her name, right? I know that she and Kara are the same person."

"What?!" Alex asked, whipping around. "How?"

Maggie laughed. "I saw her change from Supergirl to Kara one day, after she'd saved a burning building," Maggie shrugged.

"Why didn't you tell me you knew?" Alex asked, pulling a discreet bulletproof vest on and reaching for her black tshirt.

"It was funny watching you try and differentiate stories about Kara from stories about Supergirl," Maggie laughed, pulling her vest on too. "Anyway, Lena, you were saying?"

Lena laughed as well, swiping through the tablet nearby that showcased all the weapons available. "Lex knew I had asked Kara out, so he sent me lippy with Kryptonite in. Now, I can't kiss her until it's gone," she sighed sadly.

"Not at all? Not even like... Not the lips?" Maggie smirked, and Lena shook her head. "That sucks, dude."

Lena nodded, but she had also made her selection. She double tapped on the tablet, and it asked for her fingerprint. She frowned.

"You don't have clearance for that," Alex told her simply. "I can't let you carry, anyway. It's against regulations."

"You know I was in the air force, right?"

Alex paused. "Oh, well. I guess one sidearm won't hurt," she shrugged.

"I would normally have mine with me, but Kara took me by surprise and I didn't see it as necessary."

"You carry all the time?" Maggie asked, making her selection too and allowing Alex to use her thumb print again.

Lena nodded. "When you have an alien-hating mass murderer for a brother, a mother who hates everything you stand for, and you've just taken over a multi-billion dollar corporation with a penchant for evil? Oh yeah."

"I've just been informed that Agent Danvers authorised three G17's when she only has two hands," J'onn said angrily, walking into the armoury, catching all three ladies in the middle of checking their weapons.

Alex holstered hers and stepped forward, tilting her head upwards. "We're going to see Lex."

"Absolutely not. Our top priority right now is decontaminating the city!"

"Which we are absolutely no help with," Maggie responded, coming to stand next to Alex. "We need to speak to him, we need to make him stop this little war of his. We can't fly. We don't have the resources the DEO does. But we do have tactical and confrontational experience. You won't find three people better suited to speak to Lex Luthor."

J'onn seemed to be deliberating, and they stood there in silence for a good two minutes or so.

"Fine. But if one of you gets hurt, don't come crying to me." He left without a backward glance, and the three ladies followed him out to the bullpen.

Kara was suited up, helping Winn modify the drones slightly (he couldn't lift them).

"Oh, wow," she laughed, seeing Lena waltz in wearing all black, with a gun strapped to her thigh. "You should dress like that more often," She grinned.

Winn was finished now, so she set the drone down gently.

"Gotta go to work," Kara shrugged, kissing Lena's cheek yet again, (this was getting boring, all she wanted now was to throw Lena down on her bed, and she couldn't), then took off out of the airlock.

"Miss Luthor, could I speak to you for a moment?" He asked, gesturing down a hallway. Lena frowned but followed.

Once they were out of sight, he slipped two cylindrical objects from his pants pocket – lipsticks.

"Uh, I don't think that's really your colour," Lena told him honestly. He smiled. "It's for you. I was thinking, today, about how hard it must be not to kiss someone you really like," Lena blushed, "So I looked at some of the decon technology and put this together."

She took them from him interestedly. One was clear, and one was blood red, just like the one Lex had sent her.

The clear one, you need to use it as like, a base coat. That's the decontaminating one. The red one sort of like, seals it in. But if you're going to wear it often, you should replace it with a fresh coat at least every hour."

Lena squeezed his shoulder. "Thank you, Winn. You're the best wingman Kara could ask for," she laughed. "But how did you test run this stuff?"

His cheeks reddened slightly. "Our buddy Mon-El, he's from Krypton's sister planet Daxam. Kryptonite and Daxamite have similar chemical makeups, so he was basically my test subject.

Lena narrowed her eyes. "In what way?"

Winn laughed again, embarrassed. "I exposed my lips to Kryptonite, and did a series of tests with Mon-El."

Lena smirked. "You just wanted to kiss him, didn't you?"

"I won't say it wasn't a contributing factor."

Lena laughed again, then heard Alex calling her. "Gotta go, thanks again."


	4. And Send Away The Sun

Fair warning! This chapter is both emotionally heavy, and also kind of hot and heavy... Enjoy.

"So, what's the plan?" Alex asked, sitting behind the wheel of a sleek black SUV. They were on their way to the maximum security prison Lex Luthor was being held in.

"I go in there, I have him by the throat, and I threaten to kill him," Lena said simply, staring out the window of the car, in the seat behind Maggie.

Maggie narrowed her eyes. "Is that the _whole_ plan?"

Lena nodded and cleared her throat. "I used to love him. He was the best brother I could ever have asked for. But it's clear now, he was merely grooming me to take his place if he failed. His men tried to kidnap me, no doubt to draw Kara out to save me. He deserves nothing more than a slow and bitter end."

Maggie swallowed thickly. "That's intense. I thought maybe we could interrogate him about the people working for him. Take them down, and there'll be no one to do his bidding."

Lena shook her head.

"There will always be men willing to do what Lex tells them, all across the world, and they increase exponentially with every passing day. No. It's far better to remove the ringleader from the game altogether."

"This isn't a game," Alex snapped, pulling into a parking space. "My sister's life is on the line, we aren't here to play some fucking chess. We're here to put an end to this." She had turned in her seat while she spoke, and she and Lena stared at each other for a few moments.

Lena exited the vehicle without a word, and strutted confidently up to the heavily fortified prison doors.

Maggie unclipped her seatbelt with a huff, gave Alex a squeeze on the arm and climbed out, following Lena's path.

"We're here to see Lex Luthor," Lena demanded. The prison guard knew Lena, and immediately buzzed them into the building.

Alex was quick to catch up with them.

Because of the nature of Lex's crimes, Cell Block X was the only block you could carry your weapon on.

Another guard led them down and down three flights of stairs, deep into the tunnels underneath the prison. Lena knew exactly where she was going.

They had to pass through three security-lined doors to reach Lex's lonely cell – his only company were two guards with semi-automatic rifles in their hands.

Lex was immediately up and off of his metal chair, and wrapped his hands around the cold metal bars.

"So good to see my beautiful younger sister. To what do I owe the-"

Lena slipped her hand through the bars and took Lex by the throat, holding him as tight as she possibly could.

"You stop this. You end this war on the Supers and you end it now."

"You know as well as I do that they are unnatural, the aliens, the supers, all of them. They all should be eliminated," he snarled at her, voice rasping from the grasp on his throat.

She pulled him closer, so close that his face was pressed uncomfortably against the bars.

"You're wrong. You have always been wrong," she told him calmly. "My dear Lex," she sighed, gently stroking his cheek with her other hand. "You dissapoint me."

"And you, me," he muttered, his breathing becoming laboured. "I practically raised you, you foolish little girl. You were nothing before me. You _had_ nothing before me. And now, because of me, you will lose it all," he grinned, a sinister glint in his eye.

After a few moments of glaring at each other, it happened very quickly. So quickly, in fact, that Alex and Maggie weren't totally sure what had happened.

Lena had pulled her gun from her holster and shot Lex in the foot. She released her hold on his throat and he stumbled backwards, falling against the cold brick wall.

"You or your flying monkeys come near any of us again, and the next bullet goes in your brain."

Her voice was cold, almost cruel. The three women left the room, but Lex's laughter rang down the hallway after them.

"She's finally the woman I wanted her to be!" He called. "Just like mommy!"

Lena bristled slightly, but kept on walking in complete silence. No one spoke until they reached the DEO once again.

As was protocol, all three handed their weapons in for a short inspection.

"This one has been fired," Agent Montague frowned, looking up at Lena. "What happened?"

"My brother stabbed me in the back, so I shot him in the foot," she said simply, signing the necessary form and following Alex and Maggie away. As the only DEO agent between them, Alex was the only one still allowed to carry inside the building.

"Lena," she said quietly, putting her hand on the woman's shoulder. "Do you wanna talk about what happened back there?"

She tried to shake her head, but tears welled up in the corners of her eyes, and Alex led her down another hallway her office, Maggie hot on their heels.

It took two cups of coffee for Lena to finally start talking.

"I've said before," she began. "Lex was the only one who seemed to actually care about me. I don't even know why my mother bothered adopting me, she didn't seem to love me at all. It felt like... Like she wanted a little girl to show off to the limelight, the press, the public. So instead of having her own she just bought one."

Alex took Lena's hand in both her own.

"Our parents, they were cold. Calculating. They cared about the way we looked more than the way we felt. It makes sense, really, that Lex would turn out the way he did. But he was so warm, and loving towards me when we were younger. He was like the sun, in an otherwise bitterly cold home."

She was quiet, then, as she recovered from spilling one of her secrets to two people she really only met today.

"Are you all alright?!" Kara asked, bursting into the office and pulling Lena straight into an affectionate hug. She rubbed her back lovingly, letting Lena lean into her hold.

Kara knew how it felt to fight with family members, especially those whose beliefs were so drastically opposite to your own.

"We're all fine," Maggie said quietly, getting up. "We'll give you guys some space," she smiled, tugging Alex gently out of the room.

Lena pulled back after a few moments of silence, and looked up at Kara (two inches taller became a lot more when you weren't wearing heels).

"You're coming over to my place tonight, no excuses," she whispered. Kara nodded and smiled, pressing a fond kiss to Lena's forehead.

That evening, Kara spent over half an hour finding the right outfit – and considering she could change clothes within half a second, that's saying something.

In the end, she decided on something she liked wearing, which was her sunshine yellow dress, with it's little brown belt around the waist. ( /j8xgm7j)

Once she knew she was ready, she flew straight for Lena's apartment. It only took her a few minutes, and she landed discreetly a block over – she didn't want anyone to see Supergirl landing on Lena Luthor's balcony.

She took the elevator all the way up the high-rise building. She knocked politely on Lena's door and waited impatiently for the few seconds it took her to answer.

The first thing she did was kiss Lena gently on the cheek.

Lena shut the door behind her, and turned to Kara with a smirk on her face.

"I have a surprise for you."

Kara tilted her head in interest. "Tell me more," she smiled.

Lena stepped up to her girlfriend, and laid her arms over Kara's shoulders. She pulled her in closer, closer, and closer still, until Kara could feel even the slightest breath from Lena.

She teased Kara a little more, gently touching her lips with her nose, until she knew Kara couldn't take it any longer.

Lena closed the distance between them with a firm, loving kiss, and she felt Kara exhale heavily against her, slipping her toned arms around Lena's waist and pulling their bodies flush against each other.

They stayed like that for well over a minute, until Lena really did need to take a much longer breath of air.

"The Kryptonite, it's gone?" Kara asked incredibly quietly, a million butterflies filling up her whole body.

"Not quite," Lena sighed. Both of them still had their eyes closed, foreheads pressed together. "The decontamination helped, but uh... Winn made me a special lipstick. Keeps the Krypto under wraps, so we can do... this..." she muttered, pressing her lips once again to Kara's.

She was vaguely aware of some quiet music playing in the background, but the sound she could hear most over that was Lena's steady heartbeat.

Kara had never felt bliss like this in her life – which she quickly had to take back when Lena's lips parted and her tongue slipped out past them. _That_ was the greatest bliss Kara had ever felt.

She reciprocated the action, and the moment their tongues touched Kara could not hold back a desperate moan, one that tore itself from her throat without her consent, seeping into their kiss and into Lena's heart (amongst other places).

Kara was so shocked that the sound came from her, that she immediately pulled back from the kiss, blushing the brightest red she'd ever blushed.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry," she laughed, turning away from Lena. "I've literally never made a sound like that in my whole life. Okay, maybe the first time I tried potstickers, but... Not like that. Not at _all_ like that," she babbled on, and Lena merely grinned at her.

"Kara, it's okay. You don't need to be embarrassed." Kara turned back to face her. "It was really hot," she admitted, catching her breath slightly from the intensity of the kiss.

Kara became incredibly flustered now, wringing her hands together.

"Really?" She asked, shoulders hunched up.

"Really, really hot," Lena assured her, leaning in and placing a soft, loving, chaste kiss to Kara's lips. "Why don't you get comfortable and choose a movie? I'll get drinks."

Kara nodded almost dumbly, and made her way to the sofa without taking her eyes off of Lena. Lena must have known Kara was looking, because there was an additional sway to her hips.

Kara fumbled with every movie she picked up, and the pile toppled over.

She noticed a movie at the bottom she'd never heard of before.

"What's _Imagine Me & You_?" Kara asked innocently, only to hear glass shatter behind her. She jumped straight up and was in the kitchen in just a flash. Lena was staring at her, dumbfounded, a broken wine glass at her feet. "What happened?" Kara asked, leaning down to pick the glass up.

" _You've never seen Imagine Me & You?!"_ Lena asked, in total shock. "Leave the glass, we can fix it later, we have to watch this movie literally right now, come on," she said, tugging Kara up from the floor and dragging her over to the couch.

An hour and a half later, the pair were still snuggled up on the sofa with a blanket over them. Kara was still staring at the wall-mounted TV even as the credits finished and the disc returned to the title screen.

"What did you think?"

Kara turned her head slowly to look at Lena. "I think that was the best movie I have ever seen," she grinned, and made to lean in for more kisses.

Lena pulled back. "Wait," she said, leaning forward and picking up her lipsticks off the coffee table, "I have to re-apply, just to make sure,"

Lena was sitting sideways over Kara's lap under the blanket, with Kara's right hand resting on her knees. Kara's left was wrapped around Lena's waist. When they kissed again, Kara's hand absentmindedly drifted up Lena's thigh. Kara genuinely hadn't noticed that her hand was now mere millimeters from Lena's panties, resting on the inside of Lena's right thigh – but she did notice Lena's sudden laboured breathing.

"You okay?" she whispered against Lena's lips. The brunette nodded eagerly, and parted her legs just the slightest bit. Her hips shifted forward slightly in the motion, which cause Kara to be able to feel damp lace against her fingers.

It took the blonde a moment to realise exactly what had just happened, but unlike earlier she didn't pull back in embarrassment. "Oh," Kara said quietly, smiling slightly. She opened her eyes and looked into Lena's icy blue ones. "Oh, Rao... That's..."

Kara's breathing was laboured now, and when Lena shifted again, involuntarily, Kara's fingers pressed lightly against her clit, and her eyelids fluttered. When Kara deliberately pressed a little harder, Lena's head dropped back over the arm of the sofa.

Remember what Kara had said? The whole bliss thing? Yeah. She figured that was about to change drastically.

With Lena's neck exposed, Kara leaned down to place soft but simultaneously eager kisses from her ear to her collarbone.

Kara pushed the blanket to the floor, and the cool air in the room was a shock to Lena's system – as was Kara sitting up and kneeling over Lena, a few strands of blonde hair tickling her exposed cleavage.

She looked up at her, reached out with a shaky hand and removed Kara's glasses, before pulling her in for another eager kiss.

Even Kara was surprised at her own confidence, as she slipped both hands under Lena's skirt. She hooked her fingers into the hips of Lena's panties – which Kara now knew were black, since the skirt had ridden up with Kara's movements. "Yes," Lena sighed when she felt Kara hook onto her underwear.

Kara, not for lack of trying, actually hesitated. She had never, ever done anything like this before. Sure, since she met Lena she'd been watching _certain videos_ on the internet, but she was completely inexperienced. She'd never even been with a _guy_. Just herself, for lack of a better phrase.

Kara removed her fingers from the hips of Lena's underwear (to Lena's chagrin) and instead slid her hands up Lena's back. If she was doing this, she wanted to do it right. She found the zipper of the dress, and pulled it down with one hand, pulling the dress away with the other, slinging it over the back of the sofa.

Lena was, there was no other way to put it, absolutely breathtaking. Picking up from where her kisses left off, Kara peppered them from Lena's collarbone down to the valley of her breasts. Lena was watching her closely, breathing heavily.

One hand was still under Lena's back, so Kara kissed her again whilst calmly unclasping her girlfriend's bra. It, too, was quickly tossed aside,. Kara cupped one breast firmly, and placed kisses in circles over Lena's other, getting closer and closer to her nipple.

"Don't tease me," Lena moaned, pushing one hand up into Kara's hair. She forced Kara's mouth to find her nipple, and arched her back into the touch.

Kara was right. The definition of 'bliss' was changing with every passing second.

A thought popped into her head, from back when they had been stood in Lena's office, minutes before an explosion rocked the building.

Kara had said her mouth would never hurt Lena.

Lena had said, unless she asked Kara to.

So Kara took a leap of faith, scraped her teeth across Lena's skin and then bit down gently on the peak of her breast. The whimper she received in return sent shivers through her body, and she really didn't believe either of them could wait much longer for the main event.

She repeated all her ministrations on the other breast, making sure she had paid them equal attention. Kara lay her hands on both Lena's gorgeous breasts, and started kissing her way down Lena's stunning torso.

It didn't take her long at all to reach those lacy black panties once again. She removed her hands from Lena's breasts, brushing gently over her nipples as she did so.

Lena brought her free hand up to resume what Kara had left, so her girlfriend could get on with the important stuff.

Finally, Kara hooked her fingers into the hips of those lacy black panties (now slightly sodden) and tore them straight down Lena's toned legs.

The definition of 'bliss' changed yet again.

Kara was done with her teasing, she was done with guiding Lena along this road gently and carefully. All she wanted, in this moment, looking down at the naked woman lying beneath her, was a taste.

So her mouth flew straight down, closing around Lena's clit – which the latter clearly did not anticipate, if her gutteral moan was anything to go by.

Kara didn't hold back now, doing everything she would love Lena to do to her, including pushing two fingers up into her slick heat.

They both moaned at this, and the vibration of Kara's against Lena's clit caused an additional groan from the latter.

Kara opened her warm green eyes to see steely blues looking right back at her. Their hands intertwined on Lena's breast, and her eyes fluttered closed. Her head lolled onto the arm of the sofa, her back began to arch, her mouth dropped open and her hips rolled eagerly, ready to fall over the edge of this cliff Kara was leading her to...

Alex and J'onn burst through the door of the apartment, sweeping the room with their guns held out.

"What the fuck?!" Kara spit out in shock, jumping up and straight into a fighting stance, before realising who their intruders actually were. Her fighting stance dropped and she just looked utterly embarrassed. Lena had barely even moved; she had been so close and now she had to come down from her almost-high. "What the fuck, Alex?" Kara asked, straightening her dress.

Alex's mouth was opening and closing like a fish, she was unable to speak, so J'onn spoke for her, his back now turned from the scene before him.

"You weren't answering your phones," he said, clearing his throat awkwardly. "It was an emergency, we were worried."

"You could have knocked!" Kara said angrily, picking up the blanket and covering Lena in it (the sofa was directly visible from the doorway).

"Oh yeah, sure, because if there were kidnappers in here with both of you at gunpoint, they'd answer to _ding dong_!" Alex said. Now that Lena was covered up, she had regained her ability to speak.

Kara sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "What's this emergency, anyway? What's so important you have to take me away from-"

"Lex escaped prison half an hour ago," J'onn said simply. It was this that caused Lena to sit up.

"We need to get Miss Luthor into protective custody."

"She _is_ in protective custody. Mine," Kara told him firmly.

"Yes, because _protective custody_ means _not answering your phone for twenty minutes_ ," he said, stepping closer to Kara.

"Honestly, we didn't even hear them ringing," Lena admitted, breathing heavily as she spoke. "Besides, I don't want to be in protective custody, locked up at the DEO. I'd rather be out there, catching my brother and putting him away again," she sighed, pushing her hair back out of her face.

"Last time you saw him, you shot him in the foot," J'onn told her, with a tone of voice that said 'you'll do what I tell you'.

"And swore the next time would be his brain," Lena retorted quickly. "Now, regardless of what you want me to do, I still need to get decent," she told him, standing up and wrapping the blanket around herself. "Some privacy, please?"

Alex and J'onn reluctantly left the apartment, no doubt standing guard right outside the door.

"That's _the_ most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me," Kara groaned, turning to face Lena – who was biting her lip and looked like she was really trying her hardest to act normal. "Are you alright?"

Lena looked up at her, eyelids hooded and pupils wide underneath. "I'm still there, Kara," she said quietly. "I won't leave this building without you finishing what you started." With this, she let go of the blanket and leaned against the back of the sofa. She pulled Kara towards her.

"With them right out there?" Kara whispered, and she couldn't help biting her lip at the idea. "That's so naughty," she laughed quietly.

Lena looked at her seriously, pulling Kara's hand back to it's rightful place – between her legs. "Just quickly, please, Kara," she whined, and Kara simply could not resist.

She slipped her fingers back into Lena, moving them quickly to get Lena back to the cliff's edge, pulling her into a kiss.

"Doesn't sound like you're getting decent in there!" J'onn called through the door.

Lena broke the kiss to call back, "I'm _getting laid_ , shut the fuck up!"

Kara's cheeks burned bright red, knowing Alex would have heard that and know exactly what was going on in there.

But when Lena bit down hard on her own lip, when her eyes scrunched up tight and she let out a grateful moan before her expression softened and the tension in her body released, Kara no longer cared that two people she considered family were right outside the door.

The definition of bliss reached a height that could never, ever be topped.

Within seconds, Lena had recovered. She kissed Kara chastely on the cheek and strolled off to her bedroom down the hall, sated.

Kara took a moment to recollect herself, then headed to the kitchen. She finally picked up that broken glass, then washed her hands in the sink and, before she totally forgot, her mouth.

Lena was back within minutes, back in a black shirt, black pants, and her gun on her hip – as if Kara hadn't just had her unraveling at the seams.

"Ready?" She asked the blonde brightly, and Kara laughed before following her out the door.

Alex was very red-faced, with her arms folded across her chest. Kara swallowed thickly. "What are we waiting for? Let's go get this son of a bitch," Lena shrugged, walking away down the hall to the elevator.

The other three stepped in after her, and Kara did a quick spin, changing into her Supergirl getup.

The entire elevator ride down to the lobby was almost completely silent, punctured only by the occasional awkward clearing of the throat.

Maggie was standing impatiently on the other side of the elevator doors.

"See?" She grinned brightly at Alex when the doors opened. "I tried to tell you they'd just be going at it, but you didn't listen!" She laughed, turning and walking with the silent quad to the car. "And now you're scarred forever."

"You've said your _I told you so_ ," Alex sighed, opening the car door for Lena. "Are you finished?"

"Are _they_?" Maggie smirked, climbing in the car after Lena.

Alex looked down at the ground then turned to face Kara. "He's at a warehouse in the industrial district. We'll meet you there – and don't do anything stupid until we get there, okay?"

Kara put her hands up in mock surrender. "I won't, I promise."  
~

J'onn had flown off to run point from the DEO. Kara was circling Lex's location, waiting for a sign from her friends that she could go in.

She saw their car approaching and gently landed on the roof of it.

As they moved through the large, seemingly empty building, it was Alex and Maggie who would enter a room first, with Kara and Lena bringing up the rear.

When they reached the final room in the building, they were greeted by at least six well-trained guards.

"Great," Maggie sighed. "A welcoming party!"

The men lunged at our leading ladies. One tackled Maggie straight to the floor, one lay a heavy punch into Alex's stomach and another quickly had Lena in a chokehold. Kara was accosted by the remainging three, and struggled to get free from their grasp. When she heard a cry of pain from Lena, though, one of her attackers was flung across the room.

Kara punched another upwards in the jaw, and heard a distinct _crack_ before he toppled over backwards.

The third had already started to back away from Kara, but she picked up a rebar nearby and threw it harshly at him. He joined his friend on the other side of the room.

Kara busied herself with freeing Lena from her assailant, grabbing him by the collar and raising him up in the air, then slamming him down on the concrete floor.

Lena put her hands on her knees, catching her breath, while Kara now focused her attention on Maggie's attacker. A roundhouse kick to knock them both over did the trick, with the guy falling backwards and his head hitting the floor, knocking him out.

Kara had neglected Alex, knowing full well that she was able to hold her own, but as she looked around her sister was nowhere to be seen.

That was, until they focused their attentions on the center of the room.

Alex was unconscious, and the man holding onto her, crouched on the ground behind her, was Lex Luthor.

"You try anything," he grinned, showing his pearly whites, "she gets it."

Something in his hand glinted, and Kara realised with a lurch of horror that it was a small knife, pressed against Alex's throat.

"Lena," he said softly, almost reverently. "Come here."

Though Kara made to hold her back, she did as he asked.

"Lena, no," Maggie whispered, but the CEO completely ignored her. She kept her eyes on Lex's not even blinking, until she was just a a meter or so from Alex's feet.

"Give it to her," he instructed his one remaining lackey.

The man pulled a gun from the back of his belt, and held it out to Lena. She eyed it suspiciously.

"Take it," Lex demanded. It felt especially weighty in her hand. "Shoot your little girlfriend there, or this one takes the hit." His lackey made toward Maggie. They had a brief scuffle before he had her restrained. "Then she gets it. Then I'll make you watch while I kill her myself."

Lena felt tears well in her eyes, looking around at this new group she had become a part of.

She knew, now, that what Lex had given her was never really family. What she had here, in this room, fighting for their lives, this was her family.

"They're Kryptonite bullets," He told her. "She won't feel a thing."

His words prompted a memory to float to the surface of her mind as she stared down at the gun in her hand.

She remembered, vaguely, Lex telling her something once. Back when he and Superman had just fallen apart. Lex had stolen a pint of Kal-El's blood from a research facility. He used it on himself, in the hopes it would make him just as strong.

It didn't, but that didn't mean that his body had rejected the blood.

And besides, bullets were bullets, right?

"You wouldn't hurt me," he laughed, loosely following her train of thought. "I'm your big brother. These women? You will never mean as much to them as you do to me."

Lena looked down at him, and there was a split second where Lex thought he saw pity in her eyes.

And then the gun went off, and he saw nothing.


	5. Free To Be

I have to warn you. This chapter is like 85% cheesy. It's your obligatory pride parade chapter.

Lena poured herself another glass of scotch. She was halfway through the bottle now, but she had no intention of stopping any time soon. The amber liquid was about to pass her lips when there was a knock at the door.

With an exasperated sigh, she set her glass back down on the coffee table and got up to answer. She expected to see Kara on the other side, but instead she was greeted with a sympathetic smile from Alex.

"Hey," she said, tilting her head. "Can I come in?"

Lena nodded almost imperceptively and walked away from the open door. She left Alex to enter and close it as she grabbed another glass from the kitchen, then slumped down on the sofa again.

Alex took a seat at her side. She had a bandage across the left side of her neck.

"I'm sorry," Lena said quietly, filling Alex's glass. "For what happened. I should have gone alone."

Alex shook her head slightly – the cut on her neck still stung. "No, I'm sorry. I should have fought harder. I was distracted, making sure Maggie was okay."

Lena took a sip of her drink and pulled her legs up under her on the sofa. "Don't be silly. If you hadn't come with me, you'd never have gotten hurt."

She hesitated before her next gulp. "How's Kara?"

"She's okay. She's worried about you, she's not seen you in two days. You've been holed up in here," Alex said, waving a hand to gesture to the apartment. "Not that it's a terrible place to hole up in."

This time, when Lena spoke, it was barely audible, and Alex could tell she was holding back tears. "She knows I need a little time, right?"

Alex nodded. She reached out and placed a hand gently on Lena's arm. "Of course she does. And she's there when you're ready," she thought for a moment. "When I killed her aunt, it just about broke her."

Lena looked up in interest.

"Astra had J'onn, she was about to kill him. I didn't have any other choice. I felt awful, and Kara hated me for a while because Astra was all she had left. You're lucky, you get to hate yourself. You don't have to feel that tingle on the back of your neck when you know she's looking at you in disappointment."

Lena laughed slightly at this. Alex hadn't touched her drink.

"Tell me about him," she asked, tilting her head. Her thumb moved back and forth on Lena's arm, a trick she found comforted Kara without fail.

Lena shrugged. "I loved him. He was like... The parent that none of parents truly were to me. I was born in Dublin, and all I remember of my birth mother and father is... bottles. Bottles of booze, bottles of pills... I got taken into care at three and a half. Lillian was visiting Ireland on business, some fake outreach program for children in need. She saw me, and I looked just like her. I was the daughter she could never have, so she snapped me up.

"I was so excited. Here was this beautiful lady, saving me from a shitty foster home, and she looked just like me, and I was finally going to have the family I knew I deserved. We got to America. She introduced me to Lionel. I got a hug from each of them and then toddled off to the nanny.

"I didn't really see them properly for almost a week. She had me taking dialect lessons, to get rid of my accent – which I didn't get back until I took drama in high school, by the way."

Alex smiled – she _had_ noticed little inflections here and there whenever Lena spoke.

"I didn't meet Lex for a month. Mother had told me all about him, how amazing and fantastic and what a perfect son he was. I expected him to be just like them... But he was so excited to meet me. He loved me straight away, and I toddled after him like you can't imagine. I did everything he did. I thought he loved me. Now, I know that's can't be true."

After she'd spoken about her childhood, her natural accent had begun to seep further into her words, and Alex couldn't help but smile.

"He _was_ the only one to accept me, though," Lena muttered. "When I came out. Lionel couldn't have given a damn. Lillian scoffed, told me I couldn't be, and walked away. Lex seemed genuine when he told me that I should be no one but myself. That he was proud of me for having the courage to say it."

Alex wrung her fingers together. "I don't know how I'm gonna tell my mom," she sighed. "I'll probably just get hammered at Christmas and blurt it out. She's never... I've never been in a conversation with her that involved any like... gay talk," Alex laughed. "So I have no idea how she feels about the topic."

"Well, you and Kara are both wonderful, so she clearly raised you right. I don't see why she wouldn't accept you."

Alex watched as Lena brought her glass to her lips again, and she reached out and stopped her before she could take a sip. "Tell me again what you remember of your parents," she prompted quietly.

Lena lowered the glass. She stared into it while she swilled the scotch around. Alex was surprised to see her down the rest of the drink, and even more surprised when Lena stood up and threw the crystal glass into the fireplace with gusto.

"Are you going to drink that?" She asked Alex, gesturing to her beverage. Alex shook her head. Lena picked up both the glass and the bottle. Alex made to stop her drinking them, too, but Lena walked over to the fireplace. She tossed the crystal glass straight in.

Alex watched her nervously as Lena headed into the kitchen. She opened her cupboard and started to drop full bottles into a plastic bag until it was full.

She then turned to Alex, mascara weeping slightly at the edge of her eyes.

"Get rid of them for me?"

It was posed as a question, but to Alex it sounded more like a demand – especially with Lena's native accent now thick and out in full force. She nodded, "Of course."

Lena had never, ever had a drinking problem. She would drink at gatherings, galas, business meetings that occurred after four in the afternoon. The alcohol in her home was there for whenever she had guests. But talking with Alex, she knew deep down that if she let herself reach the end of that bottle tonight there wouldn't have been any looking back.

"I'll call you later," Alex said, taking the bag from Lena. "Check up on you."

Lena nodded. "I'll probably be at Kara's."

Alex smiled, squeezed Lena's arm, and headed out the door.

Lena had two incredibly strong cups of coffee, showered, and then called her driver to take her to Kara's.

The blonde had used her x-ray vision to see who was at her door, and she just about ripped it off it's hinges to take Lena into her arms.

"Are you-"

"I'll be alright," Lena nodded against her girlfriend's shoulder. "Alex and I talked, at length. I'll be fine."

Kara tilted her head to the side like a puppy again. "You sound different."

Lena smiled almost slyly, looking up at Kara lovingly. "We were talking about my childhood, my parents back in Dublin. I guess my accent has come back?" She hadn't even noticed she was talking differently, it felt that natural.

Kara kissed her softly.

"Talking with Alex," Lena sighed, pulling away from Kara and making for the window, "It made me remember that I promised you something." Kara followed Lena, watching her lovingly. "That if you came to the gala with me, I would give you an exclusive article," Kara nodded, seeing Lena gently trace the outline of something on the canvas Kara was currently working on.

"Well, National City pride is next week, and everyone relevant from LCorp is going. Pride has never been a big event here, I wondered if you would write an article to promote it. What with Alien Amnesty, it shouldn't be too much of a stretch to expect people to accept us." The Irish in her accent was fading now, if only because the topic was no longer on her childhood.

Kara nodded, coming to stand behind Lena as she inspected the barely-begun artwork. "I'd like that a lot. Maybe... Maybe you, me, Alex and Maggie could front the parade?"

Lena turned around as Kara slipped her arms around her waist, grinning.

"That's just what I was thinking. You wanna go get some lunch?"

Kara shot a quick text to Winn as they left. 'Need a favour.'

And so, a week later, Alex and Maggie are stoold holding hands next to Lena, who is waiting nervously for Kara to arrive.

She floats down easily from above, them, grinning brighter than Lena has seen her grin before. "Check out my new cape!" She says excitedly, turning around so they can see – it's a cape in the colours of the bisexual pride flag.

"You look great," Lena laughed, pulling Kara into a gentle kiss, "But you're almost late, we have to get started right now," she said, pushing Kara out the door of the L-Corp lobby – where the parade was beginning.

The huge crowd that had gathered outside screamed out their cheers as Supergirl flew up into the air, her gay-ass cape billowing in the wind behind her.

She _could_ have just worn the standard rainblow flag as a cape, but this felt much more right to her – and the citizens beneath her, the citizens watching the parade and wishing they were strong enough to join, they needed to see Supergirl's true colours. It wasn't just a cape. It was her coming out to the city.

As they reached the halfway point of the parade route, another figure flew through the sky toward Kara. At first she was apprehensive, but as it grew closer – a bird? A plane? Nah, just Superman. Unlike Kara, he did have the standard rainbow flag protruding from his shoulders. His was just that, though – a flag. Kara had gone to the effort of getting Winn to make her a bulletproof cape.

"Saw you on TV," he said, floating along next to Kara. "Figured I'd improvise," he smirked, clapping her on the shoulder proudly. "Who's the lucky girl?"

Kara blushed brightly. "What makes you think there's a girl."

"I know you, Kara. You wouldn't have done this without someone's support. Someone special."

She hesitated. "She is special. Very special."

"I'm glad," he nodded, and looked behind him. "This thing is long. I'm gonna stay at the back, make sure everyone's alright."

"Thank you for coming," Kara grinned, squeezing his hand before he flew off.

As they neared the end location, Kara zipped forward a little and landed gently just ahead of the parade. She walked along next to Lena.

"I think you should make a decision," she said to her, knowing too much was going on for anyone to be listening to their conversation.

"What do you mean?" Lena frowned, as they got closer and closer to the army of news station cameras waiting to greet them.

"There's no way I'm not kissing you today, and with all the cameras around you should decide if you want to publicly date Kara Danvers, or publicly date Supergirl."

"Kara," Lena said, nodding. "I'd probably be kidnapped again if I were dating Supergirl so publicly."

Kara smiled in understanding. "Be right back," She said, hugging all three of them in turn, giving a nod to the cameras, and taking off. She landed behind a news van as Kara, and hurried over to take her place at Lena's side again.

This time, she slipped her arm around Lena's waist and pulled her straight into a kiss, right in front of the cameras. They were close to getting carried away, until Alex gently prised Kara away and out of frame.

They filed into some bar nearby, waiting for Lena to finish her interview. There was a TV up in the corner, showing one channel's live footage, and Kara was listening intently.

"Yeah, yeah, that was my girlfriend, Kara," Lena grinned at the reporter, letting out a deep sigh of freedom.

"You sound very relieved to say that," The reporter asked, and Kara could hear the smile in his voice.

"She's great. She's amazing, and super, and just incredible. I'm so happy to be able to..." She thought for a moment. "To be free. That's what today has been all about. Freedom."

When Lena joined them at the bar, she came up behind Kara and held her close.

Alex watched as Lena received her order – an orange juice, from the looks of it. Lena pressed her lips to Kara's ear and whispered something.

It must have been good, because Kara turned as bright a red as her Supergirl skirt, and looked up at Lena, biting her lip. Alex saw her say 'Really?', to which Lena nodded. The pair kissed again and Alex snapped a photo, then saw Kara mumble something against Lena's lips.

Maggie slapped her on the arm. "You gonna keep perving, or you gonna do that to me?" She smirked – Lena and Kara were now completely wrapped up in each other, oblivious to everything else. Alex obliged.

As it turned out, the bar they'd wandered into had been a karaoke bar. After countless performances, and far too many renditions of Gaga's _Born This Way_ , Alex was pushing Kara repeatedly toward the stage.

When they were growing up, Alex knew how much Kara enjoyed singing. She used to sing around the house, and Alex even convinced her to join the high school choir one year.

"You have to!" She demanded to Kara, pushing her over to the guy controlling the music.

She forced Kara onto the stage herself, whispered something in her ear, then spoke to the guy in his speedos and weaved her way back to Maggie.

"Hey everyone," Kara said over the mic. Her voice was shaky, but Lena was looking at her so lovingly that she found the courage to continue. "Today is such an important day for all of us, and I know we're all having so much fun. But I think we should take a minute – well, three minutes and thirty one seconds – to remember all of those who can't make it to their pride events. Those who we've lost along the way. Our community has been dealt some devastating blows, and we feel that pain as one."

The music started, and it was as if every patron collectively sighed in recognition. Kara had chosen Sia's _The Greatest_.


	6. Your Body's Poetry

Once Alex and Maggie were both appropriately drunk, and had tried their off-key hand at some cheesy romance duet, Kara decided it was home time for all of them. She'd had a few drinks herself, and even though earth alcohol didn't affect her all too much she decided against flying. It was too quick and easy, and she wanted to spend some more time with Lena.

Lena called her driver, and the four of them piled into the back of his towncar. Alex fell asleep on Maggie's shoulder almost immediately after she'd sat down.

At Alex's apartment, Kara hoisted her unconscious sister over her shoulder without a second thought. At the look the driver gave her, she faked a groan under Alex's weight. Lena took Maggie's arm around her shoulder – she was still awake, but Lena wanted to be sure everyone made it upstairs safely.

The car led them, next, to Kara's apartment. Lena thanked the driver and took Kara by the hand up the stairs, an extra swing in her hips.

Kara yawned widely, which Lena saw, and led her straight for the bed at the back of the apartment.

The CEO slipped gracefully out of her jeans and button-up shirt. Kara could only watch as her underwear came into view for a brief moment, and then Lena climbed under Kara's thick covers. She laughed, "What?"

Kara shook her head slowly. "You're just beautiful," she sighed, pulling her own clothing off and joining Lena in the warmth of the bed.

They were facing each other, and Kara tucked a stray strand of Lena's hair behind her ear. "I noticed you didn't have a drink tonight," she pried gently, letting her hand trail down Lena's arm until it rested on her waist.

Lena shrugged.

"In fact, I haven't seen you drink since... Lex," she muttered, and Lena shuffled closer.

She sighed heavily, toying with the little pink bow attached to the center of Kara's bra. "After... _Lex_ , as you so eloquently put it," they both smiled at that, "I was drinking for like two days straight. I wouldn't say it was a lot to have in fourty-eight hours, but it was more than I should have had. And then the third night, when I came here?"

Kara nodded.

"Alex had been over. She'd been worried about me," she sighed deeply again, finding her words and not looking Kara in the eye. "We talked for a while. I don't know how to articulate all of it, but, I told her how my birth parents were addicts. I won't ever be able to thank her enough for coming over that night, she stopped me finishing the bottle.

"I really think, if I'd have reached the bottom, I wouldn't have turned back."

Kara's hand was resting on Lena's cheek, her thumb wiping away a stray tear or two.

"I had no idea," she whispered, and placed a firm kiss to Lena's forehead.

They were silent for a while, enjoying each other's embrace, when Kara could no longer hold in her question. "Do you think you've stopped for good?"

Lena met her eyes now, and they were full of love and acceptance (no change there), and she nodded. "Maybe I'll treat myself to _one_ glass of champagne at our wedding," she grinned sheepishly. Kara's eyebrows shot up into her hairline.

"My, oh my, Miss Luthor, are you finally makin' an honest woman outta me?" Kara asked with a big grin, putting on her best country accent. Lena laughed openly at this.

"I'd love to, one day," she said. Kara made to pull her in for a kiss, but Lena sat up suddenly. "I forgot to check," she got up and dug in the pocket of her trousers for the tiny Gieger counter Kara had given her a few weeks back.

When it made only the usual background radiation noises when pressed against Lena's lips, she grinned evilly over at Kara. "Looks like someone's getting lucky tonight," she climbed back onto the bed and pulled Kara into a kiss.

"Is it me?" Kara asked. "It's me, right?"

Lena laughed into their kiss, straddling Kara's lap and pulling her up to a sitting position. For so long, Lena had been dreaming up all the things she was going to do to Kara once she finally got the opportunity to, and now she had no idea where to start.

Which of her dozens of fantasties should she indulge in?

Which of Kara's breasts to caress first?

Which of her legs to place over Lena's shoulder?

Which inch of skin to place her lips?

Whose underwear to remove first, hers or Kara's?

She gently brushed Kara's hair backward with her hands, stroking her love's cheeks every time she did so.

Now, she could finally kiss Kara with all the vigor and passion she had been wanting to – prior to this moment, she couldn't risk smudging her lipstick and revealing the Kryptonite underneath.

When she slipped her tongue out, Kara let out that ridiculously hot, breathy moan she had the first time they'd kissed like this.

She'd grown into it, since, and knowing how much it turned Lena on had given her a huge confidence boost in not hiding it.

Kara's hands slipped around Lena's waist, and palmed eagerly at Lena's gorgeous behind.

Lena's hips had started to roll slightly, and she pushed Kara's head back to place open-mouthed kisses along her neck. Her fingers took hold of Kara's hair, at the back of her head, tilting her head to the side to allow Lena better access.

She bit down harshly – obviously not breaking skin – and Kara just about melted into her arms. Granted, it didn't hurt, but the sensation was still there, and still wholly enjoyable.

She flicked her tongue against the spot she'd bitten, and pushed Kara back so she was yet again laying back on the bed.

She rolled her hips deliberately this time.

"Look at you," she sighed, sitting up and watching Kara underneath her, who was breathing heavily and clearly wanting for more of what Lena was giving her. "How did I never realise you were Supergirl?" she laughed. Lena leaned forward, slipped her hands under Kara's back and quickly unclasped her bra.

She slid it gently down and off of Kara's arms, dropped it unceremoniously off the side of the bed.

Lena had to take a moment to recollect herself. She wanted to do everything, but she didn't want to just yet. Her current priority was to see Kara, Supergirl, her girlfriend, in all her glory.

So her hands moved next to Kara's panties, that seemed to be a size too small for her, and took care to remove them. Kara was staring up at her, her breathing heavy and pupils wide.

Lena's fingers gently trailed down Kara's abs, and she rested her hands firmly on Kara's hips.

"Tell me what you want," she finally muttered, taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm her racing heart.

Kara's hips shifted under Lena's hands and she placed her own over her girlfriend's, holding her wrists. "Do whatever you want to do with me," she sighed, arching her back slightly, "Just make it damn quick."

Lena laughed slightly. "Then I hope you have a lot of free time, because I want to do everything to you, everything I could possibly dream of," she said, leaning down and kissing Kara lovingly.

Kara brought her hands up and buried one in Lena's flowing hair, the other cupping her cheek. She shifted her legs, locking them around Lena's own and pulling her in closer as they kissed.

"I have waited," she mumbled against Lena's lips, pressing her body flush against Lena's, "since they day we met," she sighed and kissed Lena again, "to have you here, in my bed, with me."

Lena listened carefully, not knowing where Kara was going with this. "And if you do not..." she hesitated, " _fuck me_ as soon as humanly possible I may just have to throw you across the room," she shakily exhaled as she finished her sentence, as Lena had dropped her lips instead to Kara's breasts.

"The only problem," she breathed out, pressing the heel of her foot between Lena's legs, "is that it's entirely plausible I'll break your fingers..."

Both of them laughed, which for both of them dissolved into a moan as Lena's hand slipped between Kara's legs.

"Holy fuck," Lena whispered. She scraped her teeth and then flicked her tongue over one of Kara's nipples, and immediately pushed her fingers into Kara, whose toes curled and she scraped her fingernails along Lena's shoulder.

Luckily she maintained enough control over her strength not to hurt Lena, but the CEO still moaned at the touch.

They both knew that if Kara truly lost control over her strength, the visit to the emergency room could get incredibly awkward, but in all honestly neither of them cared enough in that moment, as Lena added a third finger to her ministrations, causing Kara to cry out happily.

They remained like that for a while, Lena eagerly pumped her fingers in and out of her girlfriend.

"More, please, Lena, I need more," she gasped out, trying her hardest to roll her hips in time with Lena's thrusts, trying to get the force she knew she needed.

Lena de-tangled herself from Kara's grasp, maneuvering to get more leverage so she could give Kara everything she needed.

It wasn't long before Kara was unraveling under Lena's touch, and Lena was so entranced by Kara's sheer beauty of Kara as she came, that even as Kara was recollecting herself and calming down Lena was still staring at her.

When Kara had fully recovered and caught Lena's gaze, she blushed brightly. Biting her lip, she pulled herself up into a sitting position and took Lena's wrist, gently removing her fingers with a sigh.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked quietly, lightly pecking Lena's lips.

Lena shook her head slowly. "You're... incredible," she sighed, stroking Kara's cheek and feeling a sharp pain through her hand. "Ouch, shit."

Kara immediately used her X-ray vision, and gently kissed Lena's palm. "They're not broken," she said, embarrassed and muttering. "Just sprained."

Lena bit her bottom lip and stretched her hand, wincing. "God, your pussy is deadly."

Kara turned bright red, looked away and ran a hand through her hair. When Kara turned back, Lena was watching her carefully, licking her fingers. If possible, Kara felt her cheeks grow even warmer.

"You taste really good," Lena whispered, batting her eyelids at Kara innocently.

"So your thing is dirty talk then, huh?" Kara asked quietly, tilting her head to the side.

Lena tilted her head, too, and smiled innocently at the blonde, eyeing her yet again.

Their conversation was almost forgotten as they kissed sweetly, spending a couple of minutes just gently caressing each other as they did so.

Then Lena pulled back, stroking Kara's cheek.

"So..." she started. "You gonna sit on my face, or what?"

Kara laughed brightly, and shook her head. "I had something else in mind," she admitted, tucking Lena's hair behind her ear.

"Tell me more," Lena asked, intruiged, sitting up straighter.

Kara bit her lip and hesitated. "First things first, I feel like I need to tell you the backstory," Lena laughed at this.

"Uh, so, I was thirteen when I left Krypton, so I was still going through puberty. And here on earth, Kryptonian's age a little slower. So I sort of had this extended puberty, like a secondary puberty just after I left college. And obviously, when someone is going through puberty there are certain... desires and needs that you start to experience, only because I'm an alien it was like, stronger than normal."

She laughed here. "I remember asking Alex what her second puberty was like and she obviously had no idea what I was talking about. And we had a super long conversation about the way I was feeling, and I expressed to her that I couldn't act on these feelings because I didn't have a lot of control over my powers at the time."

Lena listened with her eyes narrowed, not a clue where this monologue was going.

"And she suggested a purchase to me, so I followed her advice, only I needed to get like," she hesitated and laughed again. "I had to keep replacing them. I would break them."

Kara pulled back from Lena and opened one of her bedside drawers, looking up at Lena sort of bashfully.

Lena crept closer, glanced down into the drawer and grinned brightly.

"The uh," Kara cleared her throat. "The harness was practically free with this one, it was on offer..." She trailed off at the look on Lena's face. "I take it that's a yes," she asked, as Lena eagerly reached into the drawer.

The pair spent the rest of their night indulging in their new favourite passion: each other.

Kara had to, yet again, redefine 'bliss' at least half a dozen times.

They only packed it in after Kara accidentally super-heard her neighbors complaining. _"It was hot at first, but now it's just annoying, right honey?"_ a female voice had said. _"Yeah. So annoying,"_ a male voice lied.

By this point, Lena was pretty exhausted, so they decided to call it a night. Kara had a lot more stamina, but even she was starting to feel the call of slumber.

Once they were cuddled up under the sheets once again, Lena started to drift off, but she kissed Kara gently.

"Remember what I said, at the bar?" she whispered sleepily, and Kara nodded. "I don't think, any more. I know."

"I –" Kara was about to respond, when her super-hearing picked up a commotion downtown. "I'm glad the criminals waited until we were finished," she said, getting up from the bed and speedily getting her outfit on. "Stay here, yeah? Make yourself comfortable," she said, kissing Lena's head as she was starting to fall asleep. "I'll be back soon," she promised, and took off out the window.

When Lena woke the next morning, it was to an empty bed and a cellphone with a lot of texts from Kara.

 _00:07 – hd a sitch, but im fine, just hv to deal w/it. Ly x_

 _01:15 – be home soon I hope x_

 _03:47 – miss u x_

 _06:59 – omw x_

It was this last text that had woken her, as her phone had now buzzed out of her pocket onto the hardwood floor. Right as the clock on her phone flicked to 7am, and her alarm went off, Kara landed in the living room and strolled tiredly over to the bed.

She slumped onto it, not even changing or getting under the covers.

Lena tucked a strand of Kara's hair behind her ear. "I have to go to work," she said sadly. "Can I borrow some clothes?"

Kara nodded and rolled over so she was facing Lena, who stood up and swayed her hips into the bathroom as Kara watched.

"Y'know, it was really hard fighting that alien," Kara called out as she heard the shower turn on. "After everything you did to me, I was pretty spent." She smiled as she heard Lena's laugh.

"Well, you came back to me in one piece, so clearly you kicked it's ass," she called back.

Kara laughed too, and took out her phone – she kept it in a pocket inside the shorts she wore under her skirt.

Scrolling through her social media feeds, she saw that Alex had posted a fairly blurry picture that clearly depicted Kara and Lena getting handsy on the dancefloor of the karaoke bar the night before, captioned 'The hsppy cupple. Cldnt b a prooder bg sis$$' followed by heart emojis of all different colours. Kara was pretty fluent in Alex's drunk version of english, and she smiled.

Scrolling down again, there was a 'reccomended for you' post. It was a photo posted by one of CatCo's rival media outlets, with two pictures in one. On the left was a still of Supergirl and Lena smiling at each other at the parade, and one the right was one that seemed practically identical, of Kara and Lena kissing in front of the interview cameras at the end of the parade.

It was captioned, 'LENA LUTHOR: PLAYING WITH THE HEART OF A YOUNG JOURNALIST?'

Underneath was some silly, mock-expose that implied Lena was seeing both women at the same time, toying with both their hearts. Kara laughed to herself and scrolled down again.

The next photo she saw was from the morning of pride, posted by Winn. It was a selfie, with a dramatic pout. ' _Tired of being a gay in theory and not in practice'_ was the caption. Mon-El had commented. _'We Can Practice Together Bro!_ '

"Good news," Kara said, as Lena left the bathroom totally naked with a towel wrapped around her head. "Nearly everybody we know is gay!"

"Awesome," Lena laughed, facing the mirror. Kara had rolled over, and could see both Lena's behind as well as her reflection in the mirror.

Kara moved to the edge of the bed, and kissed the little dimple just above Lena's ass. She'd found out last night that it was Lena's greatest weakness, and Lena's hand fell back to sit on Kara's shoulder.

"Don't," she smirked. "Jess will interrogate me for my lateness, and you know she's not particularly fond of you," Lena said, as Kara knelt on the edge of the bed and pulled Lena's back against her front. She rested her head on Lena's shoulder, and looked at her in the mirror.

"She's jealous," Kara muttered. "Just look at you... She's angry because I get to do this and she doesn't," she said, sliding her hands up Lena's abdomen and cupping her bare breasts.

Lena playfully slapped Kara's hands away.

"Sorry," Kara laughed, watching affectionately as Lena started to pick out some of Kara's clothes to wear. "Now that I know we can do whatever we want to each other, I'm having trouble keeping my hands and my thoughts off of you," she admitted. Lena smiled at her lovingly.

"You'll have your chance again soon," she promised, buttoning up a silk, fuscia, sleeveless blouse she'd found in Kara's closet. She picked out a pair of black slacks and wiggled them on.

"Y'know," Kara said thoughtfully. "You would look really good in this." She gestured to her Supergirl costume.

Lena turned to face Kara. "Lex told me once, that Clark told him once, that the only time a Kyrptonian would see their house crest on another person was if they were married or blood related."

Kara grinned brightly. "Well, you did promise me last night, you'd be making an honest woman outta me, absolving my sins by marrying me."

"Oh, sweetie, after last night's sins it's gonna be one hell of a marriage," she laughed, leaning in to kiss Kara lovingly. "I gotta go," she whispered against her lips, lifting Kara's hands from her hips. "I'll see you tonight, we're going out for dinner."

"Yes Ma'am."

After a well deserved morning of sleep, Kara strolled into CatCo around lunch.

The moment she walked into Snapper's bullpen, all eyes were on her.

"Fucking Lena Luthor," one of her colleauges muttered. Kara turned red, and had to stop herself from asking 'How did you know I am?'.

"What about her?" She settled for asking, gingerly placing her folder down on one of the many tables.

"You and Lena Luthor!" The woman said, coming closer to Kara. "Everyone knows she went home with you last night, and now you don't roll in until twelve in the afternoon?"

"What do mean everyone knows? How could anyone know where Lena was last night?"

"Um, she has cameras following her almost everywhere, that's how. Some paparazzo put a picture on Instagram," she said, pulling out her phone and scrolling until she found it.

Kara regarded it with concern. "Could you slide that into my DMs?" Kara asked, laughing a little to hide her suspicion. "Lena will probably want to know about this dude," she played off. "Thanks, Cellaigh." she said, bringing the photo up on her own phone.

Cellaigh nodded, and flicked disinterestedly through her own folder.

"Besides, I think you'll find that Lena was back at L Corp by 7.30 sharp this morning. I was out this morning getting a last minute story."

"Do tell," Cellaigh asked, actually seeming interested.

Kara flicked her folder open. She'd had enough time that morning, after she'd woken, to throw together an excuse for being late to work.

"Supergirl, appearing at pride yesterday. According to my sources, it wasn't just any old cape. It's an actual bulletproof one she had made just for pride," Kara smiled, pointing to it in a photo. "Superman's was a flag, one you can buy at any stall during pride. Hers was special. I've been finding out why."

The slightly smaller woman next to her nodded in understanding. Like Lena, Cellaigh had an Irish accent when she wanted one. "You think she was coming out?" Kara nodded. "It's gotta suck, though." At Kara's confused look, she continued. "She goes to pride, she walks with Lena for a while, looking all lovey-dovey, and then you come along and smooch her. Heartbreak or what?"


	7. Fire Meet Gasoline

It should hardly surprise you to hear that Lena and Kara's sixth date almost two months later was also rudely cut short. They had finished their meal, and were just crossing the road to head to a bar, when a car came speeding down the street. Kara caught a glimpse of the driver – unconscious – before speeding to save a small child from the path of the car, changing as she moved.

She had assumed that Lena would be safe – they were nowhere near the path of the oncoming vehicle – but what she hadn't counted on was the physics that followed it's collision with a stationary car.

The second car was jolted forward, and arced around as though it were drifting, smashing Lena into the side of another vehicle.

It bounced back away from her after the initial impact, but she fell to the floor between the cars. Kara was busy saving other pedestrians from cars that were actually being driven, which were now gradually becoming involved in the crash site.

Lena lay on the hard tarmac, drifting in and out of consciousness. Moving her head made her feel dizzy, but the pain in her leg was excruciating and she had to see what happened.

As soon as she looked down, she regretted it. She had a compound fracture. ( _If you don't know what that is, do not google it. A compound fracture is where your bone breaks so severely that there is bone sticking out of your flesh. Do not google it.)_ As the screaming around her started to die down, she knew that Kara had done her job well, but she was hidden from view here.

Supergirl had stopped any more cars joining the pile up, gotten all the injured to safety and flew up into the air. She could hear sirens in the distance, and realised she couldn't see Lena.

She used her x-ray vision, and rushed as humanly as possible over to where her girlfriend was lying on the cold ground.

"Lena, Lena, look at me," she said quietly, breathless as she tilted Lena's head to face her.

The paramedics were just arriving, and another car crash could be heard in the distance. Kara looked up in it's direction, and Lena weakly pushed her away.

"Go," she managed. "Go help, I'll be fine," she assured Kara, and felt her hand brush her cheek before a gust of wind told her Kara had flown away.

Next moment, a man had knelt down beside her, dropping his medical bag by his side. "Miss Luthor, my name is David, can you hear me?" He asked calmly. She nodded minutely. "I'm gonna give you something for the pain, okay? It might make you sleep." Lena managed to open her eyes and look up at him. He didn't wait for her consent before he took a small needle from his bag and injected the fluid into her upper arm. Something wasn't right.

"Wh-" Lena began, meaning to voice her confusion, but her arm began to tingle slightly. Instead of starting to drift off to sleep like the man had said she might, it was like her senses were cranked up to eleven. She could smell blood, burning rubber, singed cloth, hot metal. The scents hit the back of her throat and it was like she could taste it.

She could hear Kara fighting to stop the second pile up, hear her breathing and her heart rate – she knew it to be Kara's from the amount of time they'd spent together – hear her grunt as she used her weight to stop another moving car.

She could feel every miniscule dent in the tarmac underneath her, she could feel every bump through the fabric of her dress. She thought she could even hear the bacteria that lived in the cracks, protesting against her weight upon them.

She felt coherent, now. "What did you do to me?" She asked, her chest heaving and her body beginning to convulse slightly.

The paramedic looked exremely confused at her reaction, and all of a sudden the pain throughout her body was excruciating. Her ribcage felt like it was on fire, her face burning, her leg feeling like it was about to spark a blaze with the gasoline from the two cars either side of her.

A scream tore itself from her throat, louder and stronger than any noise she'd made in her life. She felt like it was ripping the pain away, clawing it from inside her body. She pounded the ground with her fist as J'onn landed in front of her.

He scooped her up carefully, Lena's nails digging deeply into the chest of his armour, ripping it. Her screams turned to crying as they flew upward. Her head hung over his arm, and she watched as DEO agents surrounded the paramedic who had attended to her, arresting him and bundling him into one of their vans.

By the time J'onn landed at the DEO, Lena was out cold.

But there wasn't a blemish on her.

The cuts and scrapes on her head were no longer there, her ribcage no longer bruised, and her left leg was whole again.

When Kara finally finished coping with the destruction downtown, the DEO was her first and only port of call. She headed straight for the medical bay, and was confused to see Lena resting on one of the beds usually reserved for aliens.

Lena was in a seat by her side, holding tight to one of Lena's hands, her tablet on her lap as she used it with the other.

Kara stood at the foot of Lena's bay, looking over her carefully, her brows furrowed together.

"Hey," Alex said quietly, not wanting to wake Lena. "She's okay."

Kara shook her head in disagreement. "No. This isn't right. When I saw her... Alex, her bone was sheared in two!" she whispered exasperatedly. "She was so badly hurt, how is she suddenly fine again? I've only been away from her for like, half an hour."

Alex nodded while Kara spoke, and reached her other hand out for her little sister. "I know, J'onn said. We're running tests right now.

Kara's eyes watered slightly, unable to shake Lena's desperate screams from her head. The moment she heard them, she made to leave the second crash site, but J'onn had insisted she stay while he went to help Lena.

"Agent Danvers?" a technician asked quietly from the door, hugging her clipboard to her chest.

Alex took her hand back from Lena's, rubbed Kara's arm as she passed her, and huddled close to the young woman at the door.

Kara moved slowly towards Lena's head, unable to believe that this pristine woman had been in such a terrible state just a short while ago. She stroked Lena's cheek with the back of her hand, and stood staring down at her.

She caught Alex's conversation behind her.

"You're absolutely sure?" her sister asked.

"We ran both of them five times. There's absolutely no mistake," the attendant assured her.

Kara spun around. "What is it?" They looked hesitant to divulge the information. "Tell me, now," she demanded.

Alex shook her head. "There's one more test I need to run," she said simply. "Sheila, can you tell J'onn about this, please? I'll be back in a few."

She gave Kara a reassuring look as she left. Alex may be immune to Kara's piercing glare, but that didn't mean the technician was... Kara tried it. The technician was, in fact, immune to Kara's glare. She also walked away, leaving Kara and Lena alone.

When she returned almost ten minutes later, her cheeks were a rosy red and she seemed almost embarrassed.

Kara stood up, one hand linked with Lena's on the hospital bed.

"Kara," Alex started, sounding almost sad.

"Is she dying?" Kara asked immediately. Alex's tone was the same as when she had told Kara that Jeremiah had died.

Alex shook her head. "No, but, uh... You should sit down." Kara didn't move. "Sit down, Kara."

This time, the younger sister obliged. Alex came and took the seat next to her, taking Kara's hand in both of hers.

"First, I need you to input protocol two-one-seven on that panel," she asked quietly.

Kara's eyes narrowed. "But that's for-"

"Kara, please."

The blonde did as she was asked, and typed in the relevant codes. Panels unfolded from the sides of the bed, and when they turned on they shone light down at Lena, light that mimicked Earth's yellow sun. This was the equipment used when Kara or Clark had a solar flare, and needed to recharge their powers.

Alex started to rub her thumb back and forth across the back of Kara's hand.

"Please don't talk back, okay? Please just let me say this all together." She waited for Kara's nod, and let out a deep sigh. "When Lena got here, she was already uninjured. It took us a while, but we finally got to take some blood.

"It came back just before you got here, and the team ran it again and again to be sure." She hesitated here, refusing to make eye contact with Kara, who looked like the whole world was about to be taken away from her.

"First, Sheila noticed traces of Kryptonian DNA in Lena's bloodwork. That's why she kept running it. And then, she decided to do another test," she'd held her hand up to stop Kara from speaking. "And when it was positive, she ran that again too."

She huffed greatly, and finally looked up at Kara. The blonde was clueless to everything Alex was saying, all she'd picked up on was the potential Kryptonian DNA.

"Kara..." Alex huffed again. "Lena is pregnant. With a half-Kryptonian baby."

Silence. Absolute silence. Kara just stared at her older sister in shock, and she thought she detected a hint of horror.

It was another five minutes before Kara finally spoke, turning to look at Lena as she did so. "How is that even possible?"

Alex's cheeks turned red again, and Kara even felt her sister's hands warm up around hers.

"That was my last test. I went and asked Alura," she said gently. Kara looked at her again. "She told me about how it's possible. And she gave me a much further insight into your sex life than I needed," she smiled awkwardly at the end of this sentence, and Kara blushed also.

"What.. What was it that had to happen...?" Kara asked quietly.

Alex cleared her throat awkwardly. "Well, the uh, the stuff I told you to buy a few years ago. You needed that. With uh," she cleared her throat again. "With you... being... the uh, _recipient_ first," they both blushed more. "And then Lena, right after..."

They were quiet again for a while. "So it's... It's definitely mine?" Kara asked, so quietly Alex wasn't sure she'd even heard her.

"Yeah. Come on, you really don't think she'd cheat on _you_?"

Kara shook her head. "No, but you don't know what happened before we got together..."

Alex nodded in agreement. "Yeah, but we calculated conception to be, uh, the night we all went to pride."

Kara took her hand from Alex's grasp, stood up, and lay it on Lena's lower stomach.

"We don't know anything about Human-Kryptonian pregnancies, so this is going to be a bumpy road... But for humans, you can normally hear the baby's heartbeat after eight weeks."

Kara nodded, and when she spoke Alex could hear that she was crying. "I can, I can hear it."

"We think that the baby protected her," Alex said gently. "When David The Paramedic injected her with an anaesthetic, the baby rejected it. It kickstarted it's powers, healed her injuries, and it would have hurt, hence the screaming,"

She trailed off when Lena started to stir. Kara squeezed her hand gently, Lena staring up at the ceiling.

"Hey," Kara sighed. Lena flinched as she spoke, her free hand moving up to cover her ear. "Lena?" She pulled her other hand free from Kara's hold, and up to her other ear to cover that, too.

"We thought this might happen," Alex said as quietly as possible. She slipped a glasses case from her pocket, took out the specs and slipped them gently over Lena's eyes. She calmed almost immediately. "I'll leave you guys to it." With that, Alex rubbed Kara's arm again and left the room.

Kara helped Lena sit up, and propped her up against the headboard.

"Why am I okay?" Lena asked quietly, leaning into Kara's touch.

Kara sighed, now understanding how Alex felt minutes before. "There's no easy way to say this, Lena." Her love looked at her in confusion, and she looked so adorable that Kara couldn't stop herself from kissing her sweetly.

"Um," she muttered, stroking Lena's cheek. "We're, uh," she gulped.

"Kara, just tell me."

She looked into Lena's eyes, and smiled awkwardly. She was happy about this, so happy about this. Growing up, all she wanted was her own family to love and cherish and care for. But this was Lena's issue too, and if it was going to be a problem then she would respect any decision Lena made.

"We're having a baby," she finally blurted.


	8. A Girl With A Lot On Her Plate

Lena's first reaction was to burst out in almost hysteric laughter for a few moments.

"Okay, okay," she said, catching her breath. "Now tell me what's _actually_ going on with me."

Kara stared at her blankly for a moment, then shook her head. "Lena, I'm serious..." She was speaking quietly, eyebrows furrowed. "You're... you're pregnant with my alien baby."

Lena laughed again, but it died out at the look on Kara's face. Her smile slowly faded, and she stared back at Kara in shock.

"You're not kidding...?" she whispered. Kara shook her head, and Lena looked away from her, letting the information sink in.

She squeezed Kara's hand a little, and Kara took this as a go-ahead to explain what had happened that day. They both blushed when Kara explained exactly what had caused the conception.

"And you're sure?" Lena asked quietly, letting her free hand drift to her lower stomach, stroking her own abdomen gently.

Kara nodded again. "I uh, I can hear the heartbeat," she smiled, brighter than Lena had ever seen her smile.

Tears welled in Lena's eyes, and she reached up to pull the glasses away. Hearing everybody in the building was overwhelming, but she focused and tried to zone them all out, focusing only on the noises within the room.

Soon, she had narrowed the noises down to just their heartbeats, and she could hear both hers and Kara's quite strongly, and then a lighter, third heartbeat underneath.

The tears spilled from her eyes, and she pushed the glasses back up to make the sounds stop. "Oh, my god," she sighed, and started to take calming breaths.

"If you, uh," Kara cleared her throat awkwardly and glanced away. "If you don't want-"

"I do." Lena said quickly, cutting Kara off in the middle of her sentence. "I _do_ want this. I'm happy, Kara, I'm so happy. But I'm scared, too."

Kara nodded in understanding, and laughed out a grin. "We're having a baby."

Alex knocked lightly at the door of the room, and entered with a light smile. "Everything okay in here?"

Lena nodded, and Alex gestured behind her. J'onn entered with an unfamiliar man who was wearing a suit.

"This is Qaa'rug," J'onn said, gesturing to the man by him. "He's an alien shapeshifter, he's going to be your bodyguard. He's a trained medic, so he'll be going everywhere you do," he seemed distasteful toward this idea, and Kara gave him a questionable look.

"Alex convinced me that there's no way Lena would stay holed up with the DEO, she'll go to work whether we tell her to or not," he explained.

Lena let out a laugh and nodded in agreement. "Very true," she said, groaning a little in soreness as she made to get off the bed.

Kara stood up and helped her a little quicker and more than she perhaps normally would have done. Alex was watching her with a small smile – now that she knew Lena had taken the shocking news well, Kara seemed to have even more warmth radiating from her. There was a lot of love behind her smile as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Speaking of work," Lena sighed, crossing to the clean clothes sitting on a chair. "I'm gonna need my rest, and I'd much rather get it at home than here – no offence," she said, talking towards Alex.

"I'll take you," Kara grinned, hands on her hips in a pose that looked so much more forced than Alex's version of it.

Lena turned and held up her index finger at Kara. "I'm not flying. I'm not gonna have to deal with that _and_ morning sickness."

Kara held her hands up in surrender, still grinning.

J'onn had now left the room, Qaa'rug was stood guard outside, and Alex tilted her head slightly. "You're... you don't like flying? You were in the air force."

Lena made eye contact with her for a moment: a slightly guarded, warning look that made Alex regret saying anything.

Kara turned to look at her love in confusion. "You were?"

Alex slipped silently out of the room, closing the blinds before she did so to allow Lena privacy as she changed.

"Let's talk about this later, sweetie," the CEO said softly, resting her hand on Kara's muscle as she pulled her pants on.

Once they were safe at Lena's apartment, cuddled up together in bed, Kara could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

It was another month later when Lena's bump had slowly started to show. Those who made their living at fashion and gossip magazines and sites were paid to scrutinise her every wardrobe choice, so the baby pouch that had started to appear did not go unnoticed in a tight black dress.

At first, the rumours were that she was putting on weight, perhaps that she'd grown 'lazy' now that she was in a relationship.

It was the steady growth over the couple of weeks that followed, the way Lena stood with her hand on her abdomen, the way Kara would touch Lena's stomach lovingly whenever they met up or parted ways, that alerted the media to the possibility of a pregnancy.

The infant had been growing so far at a regularly human pace, but Lena was still experiencing the side effects that came with a Kryptonian baby – a Kryptonian's powers. She would never forget the moment Kara kissed her after coming home safe from an alien fight, and she had quite literally floated a foot or so off the ground. Nor would she tire of tilting up her glasses and looking down at her stomach to see the baby growing.

Lena was caught by papparazzi one morning, leaving her apartment with Kara, wearing sweatpants and a baggy shirt. Thankfully they lost his trail, as they were headed to an appointment at the DEO, where a midwife sworn to secrecy about their activities there would check Lena over.

"So," the midwife began as Lena laid back on the bed, lifting her shirt so the woman could spread goo on her abdomen. "I know it's pretty obvious that you'll be having a girl, but checking is always good, especially with the nature of the pregnancy," she said, smiling gently at them both.

Eleanor was a lovely nurse, and from what Kara heard she certainly seemed to be enjoying her time working with the DEO. Lena took Kara's hand in hers, looking up at the ultrasound image excitedly as Eleanor did her job.

The circle of people who knew Kara and Supergirl were the same seemed to be growing ever-bigger, as Eleanor remarked, "I know you two could literally just take a look at her yourselves, but there's something so nice about an ultrasound," she sighed, tapping buttons and saving the pictures. "From what I can tell, you're definitely having a little girl," she nodded, turning to face them and handing Lena tissues to wipe the goo away.

"I've always wanted a daughter," she sighed wistfully, printing off their scan photos. "All my wife's ever given me is boys!" Kara and Lena laughed with her. "Well, that was back when she was my husband," she added, laughing still.

"I suppose you did get a girl in the end, then?" Lena joked, and the midwife slapped her arm playfully. "I _did_ have to teach her how to walk in heels."

It was a Sunday, which meant neither Lena or Kara were working unless anyone decided to commit any crimes. They went out for lunch after Lena had changed in the car, and once they were cuddled up in a booth at the back of a diner, Kara decided it was time to broach the topic again.

"So... The Air Force." Lena sighed at this, hoping she could have avoided the conversation even longer. "Do you wanna talk about it?" Kara asked gently, linking her hand with Lena's.

Lena laughed slightly. "Not really, but I'm going to have to, aren't I?" Kara made to protest, made to say that if Lena didn't want to talk then she didn't need to – but Lena held her hand up to shush her.

She thought for a moment, toying with her huge plate of food (her current appetite rivalled even Kara's). "I was a pilot. Standard rescue mission..." Kara lay her arm over Lena's shoulder. "My team didn't make it back. They sent the sixteen year-old ahead on her own. She watched them die and she ran for the plane. She was being shot at, too. I covered her, I was yelling at her how to start the engine. She did _amazingly_ well," Lena smiled slightly.

"I lost my co-pilot, too, and she was great in his place. It was a long flight, and we talked the whole way. We really connected... And when we landed back at base, they killed her right in front of me."

Kara pulled her closer, Lena had tears freely falling from her eyes. "It wasn't a rescue mission. It was an extraction, an assassination. They never told me why... But I got out after that."

When Kara kissed her temple gently and wiped her tears away, Lena bundled her girlfriend's shirt in her fists and held her closer.

"What was her name?" Kara asked quietly, rubbing Lena's arm.

The darker-haired woman let out a shaky breath. "Elizabeth-Sabine."

" _Sabine_ ," Kara muttered, kissing Lena's temple again a few times in succession. She hummed. "Sabine _Luthor_ , Sabine _Danvers_... Sabine _Zor-El_..." she said, turning to face Lena as she dabbed her eyes on a napkin. "Which sounds better? I like Sabine Luthor most..."

Lena looked up at Kara from under her eyelashes. At Kara's sheepish smile, Lena sat up straight and looked at her seriously.

"I – I've been thinking the same thing ever since this started, I didn't know how to bring it up..."

Kara kissed her gently, and Lena fell into it, her heart floating back up into her chest, from where it had fallen into her stomach, tied in knots.

"I love you," the blonde said against Lena's lips. "I love you so much, and I'm so excited to have this baby," she grinned, pushing Lena back a little so she could look at her properly.

" _Sabine_ ," she sighed, grinning like an idiot. "You're right, Sabine Luthor sounds best. I can't wait to see my mother's face when she finds out."

Kara's eyes widened slightly. "She just did," she whispered, staring past Lena, at Lillian stood menacingly behind her.


	9. Born In A Thunderstorm

Lena composed herself quickly, pulling a little out of Kara's bubble of space and taking one of her hands in both of her's. "Mother. Strange place for you to be on a Sunday afternoon."

Kara squeezed Lena's hand, and put her other around her girlfriend's waist.

Lillian pulled out the chair opposite Lena and sat down, looking incredibly awkward as though she didn't feel comfortable in this place.

"Miss Lin informed me of your location. I wanted to convey my congratulations," she said simply, and both women could see she was feigning her 'good mood'. "A new baby in the family, always so exciting!"

"This isn't your family," Lena said simply, and Kara stroked her side with her thumb, feeling Lena tense beneath her hold. "I'm not your family. You're not mine."

Lillian scoffed, "Lena, don't be ridiculous, you're a Luthor and you always will be."

Lena shook her head. "Luthor is merely a last name you gave me."

"It was a gift," Lillian practically spat.

"It was a set of shackles," Lena hissed back. "I will keep it, but I will make it my own," she finished, keeping her voice quiet to stop herself from yelling.

Lillian seemed lost for words, and Kara let go of Lena to stand up in front of the other woman, fists balled at her sides. "I think you should leave. Now," she said simply.

Lillian collected herself, standing in Kara's personal space. She spoke to Lena, but maintained eye contact with Kara as she did so. "You will soon come to your senses, my dear. You will need your family."

Only after Lillian had exited the diner did Kara retake her place at Lena's side, pulling her in close and kissing her temple. "Ignore her," she sighed.

Lena took a deep breath, then smiled up at Kara. "You're my family, now."

The rumour mill churned quicker and thicker with the theories of Lena's sudden pregnancy. Any event she attended in the name of L-Corp was rife with questions, which she ignored as though she hadn't even heard them. She only added to the fodder by wandering around her galas with a champagne flute filled with orange juice.

"It's time," Lena sighed one night in bed. She'd all but moved into Kara's apartment, and she was scrolling through twitter with Kara being the big spoon behind her.

"Only if you're sure," Kara muttered, kissing right behind Lena's ear.

chaosemerald: You can all stop with the theories...

chaosemerald: I'm having a little girl. It was unexpected but me and KaraZDanvers couldn't be happier!

chaosemerald: All we ask is that you respect our privacy during this time.

"Who's this joker?" Kara frowned, reading the tweets on her own phone and pointing at one of the first replies.

linktim180: chaosemerald i thought u were a lezzer...

This struck a chord with Lena, so she replied.

chaosemerald: linktim180 What does that crude phrasing have to do with anything?

linktim180: chaosemerald uh, idk if u noticed but you have to do a dude to get preggo...

Lena rolled her eyes dramatically, even though only Kara could see her. "When will they learn?"

chaosemerald: linktim180 You do realise there are women with penises, right?

linktim180: chaosemerald yeah they're called freaks lmao

chaosemerald: linktim180 oh so you wanna fite? meet me in the pit bitch

Lena deleted the last tweet almost as soon as she'd posted it, her emotions and hormones getting the best of her. She replaced it with another, less rude one.

chaosemerald: linktim180 Oh, grow up.

jennacrisscross: chaosemerald so you slept with a trans woman then?

chaosemerald: TFW you ask people to respect your privacy so they start asking who you've been shagging

chaosemerald: jennacrisscross Do you expect me to answer that?

jennacrisscross: chaosemerald thats a yes then.

shakinstacey687: jennacrisscross chaosemerald OMG is KaraZDanvers trans?

Lena sighed again and lay her phone aside. "They'll never stop," she told Kara, turning in her arms and kissing her softly.

"I don't care what they say," Kara said, stroking Lena's hair back.

They were quiet for a little while, when Lena looked up at Kara.

"I was thinking about a water birth," she smiled gently.

Kara's eyebrows shot up. "Yeah, no."

Lena frowned. "Why not?"

"Uh, Kryptonians... Well, I don't know about Clark but I... I don't like being submerged in water." Lena gave her a curious look, and she felt inclined to explain further. "Showers are fine, rain is fine, but... I can't take baths, the water is so heavy. I don't know if it's just because it's just so much more dense to me, or what.

"We had to do swimming at high school, and it felt like I was being squished from every side."

Lena nodded slightly. "That's really weird, and interesting," she said. "So, you've never been skinny dipping?"

Kara laughed and shook her head. "No, no I haven't. Besides, we're having the baby at the DEO, it'll either be a standard birth or, maybe a c-section if we have to."

"We?" Lena scoffed. "Don't flatter yourself, Kara, I'm the one who has to push another person out of my vagina."

And push, she did.

Lena had been in the middle of an incredibly important meeting, one that would secure a huge deal for LCorp. All of a sudden, she gripped the conference table so hard that a piece had almost broken off, but she let go before it could.

"Jess," she breathed out, calling her assistant over and interrupting the French CEO who had been talking animatedly. "Will you please have my car brought around?" she said, taking calming breaths and reaching for Qua-ruug's hand. He helped her stand dutifully, one hand on her back. "And call Kara, please." She squeezed her eyes closed as another wave of pain hit her. "Miss Johnson, I'm afraid you'll have to complete this meeting without me," she said calmly, nodding toward her vice president, who stood and squeezed Lena's hand.

"Good luck," she smiled gently, and both Jess and Qua-ruug helped Lena from the room and stayed with her on the journey to the DEO headquarters.

When Kara got the call, she literally dropped everything (including two coffees) and ran for the CatCo elevator. Winn and James didn't get a word out before Kara yelled "Baby coming!"

She took off from an alley and was landing at the DEO within seconds. She waited nervously for Lena's discreet arrival, pacing the medical bay and practically wearing her path into the pristine floors.

When she turned up, Kara helped her waddle into the same room they were in when they had found out about the pregnancy.

Kara helped her change and then got her onto the bed, and took her hand supportively.

"How long have you been having contractions?" Eleanor asked as she checked Lena over.

"Since this morning. I knew the baby wouldn't be coming until they got close, so I waited."

Eleanor nodded in understanding. "You shouldn't have, Lena, this isn't a normal pregnancy and it won't be a normal labour. You should have come in as soon as you realised they were contractions," she chided gently.

"I had to be at that meeting," Lena defended. "It's a big deal, I couldn't just cancel!"

"You're having a baby, you can cancel every meeting for the next year!"

Lena hesitated. "I have a company to run..."

"No, you have a child to raise," Eleanor told her gently. This was clearly a concept Lena struggled to reconcile with her own childhood, as for Lillian and Lionel, the business had been far more important than her welfare.

The rain lashed down outside, and Lena nodded, then jumped slightly at a crack of lightning.

When Eleanor moved further down Lena's body to check her dilation, she gulped and stood up straight.

"Are you ready to push?"

Lena's eyes widened. "I haven't taken any medication!"

Eleanor shook her head. "It's too late for that, she's coming now."

Lena pushed and breathed and pushed exactly as Eleanor instructed. She almost broke Kara's hand in holding it so hard.

Kara stroked Lena's sweaty, damp hair out of her face and kissed her brow. "One more, one more sweetie," she promised, and Eleanor squeezed Lena's knee in confirmation.

"One big one for me."

Lena mustered all the Kryptonian strength Sabine had given her, and all the human strength she'd always hand. With a scream rivalling that of her injuries seven months ago, she gave one huge, final push.

Her head drooped back, and she passed out as lightning struck the rod atop the tall building.


	10. No Lies In This World We Call Sleep

Lena had her own group of nurses flocking around her, checking all her vitals after she had fallen unconcious. Eleanor was grinning from ear to ear as she tidied up the baby, who wailed until she was placed on Lena's chest.

Lena awoke almost immediately, and was sobbing just as quickly as she cradled little Sabine.

The CEO was – there's no easy way to say this – an absolute mess.

Her hair, which had initially been locked in an incredibly tight bun, was sticking out at all kinds of odd angles, and a fair bit of it was plastered to her cheeks by the sheer amount of sweat and tears she had shed.

Sabine's crying had fallen to whimpers, now, and she stared up at the face lovingly smiling down at her (not that she could really see all too well).

Lena relaxed against the endless cushions behind her.

"Don't get comfortable just yet," Eleanor warned her. "We still have the afterbirth to deliver."

Lena nodded, and looked up at Kara. She was stood by the window, staring blankly at Lena and Sabine, in total shock.

Lena reached one hand out for her, and Kara ambled forward uncertainly. Lena held the baby out, and Kara shook her head. "I might break her," she whispered. Lena gave her a supportive smile.

"You won't," she assured. Kara hesitated, and then took the bundle into her arms.

Another midwife came forward and showed Kara how to swaddle Sabine into her blanket, a little purple one that Eliza had knit especially for them.

Lena watched as Kara wandered back and forth along the room, gently bouncing Sabine as she moved. Lena knew nothing could ever top seeing the look on Kara's face.

"Hi, baby," she whispered. "I'm your _jeju_." Lena grinned as the medical team helped to tidy her up, handing her a cold towel to wipe her face. _Jeju_ was loose Kryptonian for 'mother'. "That sweaty lady over there is your mom," she continued, looking down at Sabine with such awe, reverence, love and joy that Lena felt herself start to cry again. "And later you're gonna meet Auntie Alex, and Auntie Maggie, and Uncle Winn and Uncle James and Grandpa J'onn and Grandma Eliza! Yeah!"

Kara giggled and Sabine had now stopped crying. She was staring up at the blurry face above her, flexing her arms and fingers experimentally.

Kara seemed a lot more comfortable holding the baby now than she had when Lena had first handed her over, so much so that she cradled her with one arm and booped Sabine's nose gently with her free hand.

"Not forgetting Uncle Clark and Auntie Lois! Absolutely not! You're gonna have the biggest, best family in the whole wide – ow!"

Sabine, like all babies do in what has become such an overused and yet completely true stereotype about babies, wrapped her whole tiny fist around Kara's finger and squeezed tightly. With all babies, this is a fantastic sign, especially so soon after birth. But you might recall that Sabine is half Kryptonian.

"Wow, that actually hurt," Kara laughed, coming back to the side of Lena's bed.

Lena's lead-lined glasses had come off at some point during the labour, and she was surprised to note that she could still hear everyone in the building. She'd been learning to tune it out a little more, but it was still disorienting.

She couldn't see hers nearby, so she reached out and took Kara's from her face, knowing she was much better at controlling her powers. She slipped them on and sighed gently. "That's so much better," she said, and reached out to take Sabine back.

Kara watched as Lena stroked the little girl's face. "Hey, I'm that sweaty lady who's your mom!" she said excitably.

Eleanor watched as Sabine kept turning her head, pressing her nose against Lena's chest. She ushered the rest of the medical team out and moved to Lena's side, gesturing to the motions Sabine was making.

"She's hungry," she said, smiling softly. "She knows you can feed her."

You are undoubtedly aware that, during pregnancy, the breasts increase in size as they produce milk, ready for feeding. You're also aware that a fully grown Kryptonian like Kara has to consume roughly ten thousand calories a day.

"Do you know how many articles I've read," Kara began, as Eleanor helped Lena get into the appropriate position, "where all these dudes are talking about how their favourite part of your pregnancy is the size of your boobs?"

"One too many?" Lena queried. She winced a little as Sabine started to feed – the first was always painful.

Kara nodded, sitting down and resting her elbow on the bed, and her chin in her hand. "After I read the first, that was one too many," she sighed. "I have to say, though, it's certainly not a negative side effect..."

Lena glared at her playfully and rolled her eyes. The feeling of Sabine feeding was probably one of the strangest things she'd ever experienced. "Says you. You're not the one who has to lug these jugs around all day long." She looked up at Eleanor. "Will I ever go back down six million sizes?"

Eleanor raised an eyebrow. "Sweetie, before my first, I was an A cup."

Both Kara and Lena let their gazes drop to Eleanor's chest (where she was gesturing). Lena pouted, while Kara grinned at her girlfriend.

"I'll give you guys some time," Eleanor smiled gently. "Just give me a call if you need me."

As she exited, Kara could see everyone they knew gathered down the hall. Eleanor made straight for J'onn, and after assuring everyone that mother and baby were both fine, she took him aside.

Kara didn't eavesdrop. Any other time and she might have, but for now her full attention was on Lena and Sabine.

"I love you," Kara whispered, looking up at Lena. "You did so, so good." They shared a few gentle kisses.

It was almost ten minutes later that they had their first visitor. Eleanor had insisted they get longer alone, that Lena needed to rest, but Eliza was not about to be away from her first grandchild any more.

She sidled into the room with the biggest, stupidest grin on her face, her hands balled into fists and resting at her chest in sheer joy and excitement.

"Oh, look at the little angel," she sighed, dropping into the seat on Lena's other side.

She seemed hesitant to do anything else, as this was actually the first time she'd properly met Lena. But Lena almost immediately made to pass Sabine over.

"Are you sure?" Eliza whispered, asking for permission even though she practically already had Sabine in her arms. Lena just nodded, and rested her head on Kara's shoulder.

Sabine's bright green eyes blinked innocently up at Eliza. She had wisps of black hair on her head, still untidy.

Neither of our couple were quite sure why Sabine's eyes were such a bright emerald green. Kara's eyes were more of a hazel than green, and while Lena had tinges of green in hers, there was no doubt she had cerulean blues.

"A Luthor child if I ever saw one," she whispered to Kara, holding back a yawn.

"I think _Luthor_ still fits _Sabine_ best out of all three," Kara told her honestly, rubbing her arm. "Hey, why don't you get some sleep? I'll take her outside and parade her around," she suggested with a smile.

Lena nodded, and after sharing a quick kiss with Kara she slumped back onto the pillows.

Kara squeezed her hand, and Eliza looked reluctant to give Sabine up. Kara took her in her arms, carrying her like this was second nature to her.

Granted, she used to change Clark's diapers, but she'd always been so ridiculously careful when carrying him around – and it was never further than from his crib to his changing table and back again – but with Sabine it was different. It felt right.

Eliza held the door open for her, and Kara blew a kiss Lena's way as she curled up in the strangely comfortable hospital bed. She realised she was still wearing Kara's lead lined glasses, and made to throw them over, but she saw Kara slip Lena's glasses out of her jeans waistband and put them on. Jess was, of course, waiting with everyone in the lobby of the medical bay.

It was the only part of the DEO she'd been allowed to see – she'd been told it was just a really upscale, super private hospital.

Qua-rug now stood inside the door to Lena's room, guarding her especially so in her vulnerable state.

Kara grinned and made her way over to the whole group. She swore she saw Alex wipe a tear or two away as she came forward.

"Oh, Kara, she's beautiful! You did so good!"

Kara laughed at her sister, and shook her head. "Lena did all the work, she's the one who's been growing her."

"Well, she has Astra's eyes," Alex smiled, squeezing Kara's shoulder.

"Shit, yeah, you're right! We wondered where they came from."

"Don't swear, there's children present," Maggie said, gasping mockingly.

"She doesn't know what I'm saying," Kara smiled.

"I meant _you_ , Junior," she smirked, then looked down at the baby, one hand holding tight to Alex's. "Do you want one?" She asked Alex bluntly, completely out of the blue. It took Alex by surprise, and she blurted the truth, not even having a chance to wonder if it would hurt Maggie's feelings.

"No, never," she scoffed.

"Oh, thank god," Maggie sighed dramatically, and pulled Alex out of the way so that J'onn could get a look in.

"Now, Kara," he started, placing his hand on her shoulder gently. "What's this I hear about being _grandpa_ J'onn?"

Kara struggled for words, and Alex hid her snorting laughter in Maggie's hair. "Well, you're, you're -" she babbled.

"I think what Kara means is," Winn interrupted, "that you're such a strong father figure for her!"

Kara nodded emphatically, looking like a deer in the headlights.

J'onn smiled and scrunched his nose up a little, a habit he'd actually picked up from both the Danvers sisters. "Well, I... Thank you." Kara knew he meant this sincerely, and after Winn, James and Jess had all gotten a closer look at the little one, Alex scooped her up.

"Now don't you worry about a thing, you sweet little angel," she grinned, brushing some of Sabine's hair to straighten it out. "I'm gonna be the coolest aunt you could ever dream of having! I'll come with you for your first tattoo," she smiled, rocking Sabine gently. "And I'll be there when you buy your first motorbike even when mommy and jeju don't want you to! And I'll be the one you call the first time you get drunk at a party at sixteen, and I'll hold all that beautiful hair back while you throw up! Yeah, I will!" She was grinning down at the baby, and Kara raised an eyebrow.

She couldn't say in front of Jess, but it seemed Alex had forgotten that Sabine was part Kryptonian, and therefore was probably unable to get a tattoo or get drunk, and Kara would have no qualms about her getting a motorbike if she'd inherited any of her own super traits.

Sabine seemed to enjoy all the attention she was getting at first, but it soon turned into a little too much too soon, and she started to cry in J'onn's arms.

Kara scooped her up immediately. "Bedtime, I think. For all three of us," she sighed, stifling her own yawn. "I'm gonna go join Lena."

She let Eleanor guide her in giving Sabine a proper wash – though the latter wasn't too happy about the whole situation. All she wanted was sleep, but they kept moving her around, how rude!

Kara lay Sabine gently on Lena's chest (she was already asleep), and then snuggled up to Lena's side awkwardly, the both of them fitting almost perfectly on the bed.

Sabine quietened almost immediately, having both mothers now so close to her again.


	11. I Know Where I Belong

"She just won't stop," Kara sighed, bouncing and rocking Sabine in her arms in an effort to get her to stop crying. She continued.

Eliza inspected the infant lovingly. She was almost six weeks old now. Her face was red as she cried, and her tiny hands were balled into fists, from which Kara had received no less than nine bruises.

Eliza nodded, "It's colic," she said, as though that solved everything. Kara looked scared for her life.

"What's that?! Is it contagious, is she alright?!"

Eliza laughed at her daughter's fretting, but this did nothing to ease Kara's worry, so she placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled gently at her. "Colic is the short name for 'excessive crying'. It happens to most babies, there's nothing wrong with her. It's just... one of those things. She'll grow out of it by at least... say, six months?"

"You're sure?" Kara said, as Sabine fell asleep mid-cry (it's pretty stressful and tiring to scream at your mothers all day).

Eliza just nodded. "She's fine, Kara. Go put her to bed, and then get some rest yourself, okay? I'll watch over her."

Usually, Kara and Lena would share baby duty – their system was 'whoever is closest'. Luckily for Lena, and for Lena's sleep cycle, this was usually Kara. The superhero was absolutely smitten with their little one, and she was always closest to her just in case.

Even when Kara was out being Supergirl, and she picked up on Sabine's cry, she always made sure to at least call or text Lena to make sure everything was alright.

For today, though, there had been an emergency at L Corp, and Lena had needed to head into the office to fix the issue personally.

Despite the Kryptonian DNA she'd had in her, her body hadn't snapped back to where it used to be. The effects of carrying an alien baby were now starting to fade, but until they were fully gone she remained wearing the lead-lined specs.

Sabine had been crying almost non-stop for almost a week now, their only reprieve being when she was feeding, and when she was sleeping.

For Lena, this meant a lot of soreness, as Sabine's hunger was not easily abated.

Kara thanked Eliza with a tired smile, handed the baby over gently, and plodded off to hers and Lena's bedroom. Since Sabine was born, they'd moved solely into Lena's apartment, as it was a lot roomier. Kara didn't know how to bring up the idea of moving to a little house in the suburbs, with a white picket fence surrounding the front yard... She'd definitely watched Desperate Housewives too often.

"Veronica, what exactly seems to be the problem?" Lena asked as she entered the conference room, taking a seat next to Miss Johnson, her Vice President.

Veronica steeled herself. "We uh... We had a break-in in the early hours of this morning." Lena narrowed her eyes.

"That's impossible."

"They used your credentials,"

"That's also impossible."

"And all they took was the plans for the alien detection device."

"That's even impossibler. How did they get past security?"

Veronica grimaced, and gestured to the four screens on the wall. Each displayed a different image. The first, a woman entering the LCorp building, breezing past the security guard as though he hadn't even seen her. The second, the woman in the vaults deep below the tower, where Lena had personally stored the device's plans and told only one other person where she had chosen (that person was Veronica). The third, a shot of the woman from behind, and the fourth was a clear photo of her stood in the elevator, clutching the plans triumphantly.

Lena tensed, her hands balled into fists at her side.

The woman was looking directly into the camera in the last picture, and there was no mistaking her – Lillian Luthor.

Lena wasted no time in taking out her phone and calling Alex (she was on speed dial at number 3, with Kara being 1 and Eliza being 2).

She relayed the information, and passed her phone off to Veronica so she could explain further.

Vasquez turned up not ten minutes later with another team member, ready to analyse each and every moment of footage and to find out which direction Lillian went, by way of viewing other feeds in the area.

"It's like she just... disappears," Vasquez commented half an hour later, with Lena stood behind her, also looking at the screens.

Lena watches intently as they replay footage again and again and again – she uses a trick she learnt in college, staring at a fixed point just above the screens and relying on her peripheral vision to 'see' all four images.

"There, bottom left," she says suddenly, making Vasquez jump. She rewinds the footage a little, and Lena points to someone moving across the corner of the screen – it's only a pair of legs. "I'd know her gait anywhere."

"You're sure?" Lena just nods.

They move onto other cameras, consistently getting further and further from L Corp. Lena consistently points out Lillian's walk in each one, no more than her waist and below actually visible in the frame, as though she knew exactly where each camera was.

Finally, she disappeared into a building, and Vasquez gets Alex on the line to assemble a team and meet her at the address.

"We should get you into protective custody," she warns Lena, who shakes her head.

"I can handle my mother. Besides, I have another meeting to attend while I'm out."

Lena had been experiencing a little bit of post-natal depression, and today was the first time she had really left her apartment since Sabine was born – the roof counted, right? She found that was the best way to calm Sabine when she wouldn't sleep, taking her up to the top of the building to see the stars.

Now that she was out, she felt a lot better, and she shot off a quick text to make sure her companion was free.

Herself and Kara had become quite good friend's with Qua-ruug, and Lena had offered him a security position at LCorp. Luckily it wasn't he who had let her mother in the night before, but now he offered to escort her to the meeting.

Lena truly felt she didn't need protection, but she appreciated his gesture and agreed – he may actually prove useful at her meeting.

It was just under half an hour later that she, Qua-ruug and Eleanor were sitting outside a little bistro in the middle of the city.

Once their drinks came, Lena decided it was time to broach the topic.

"Have you given any more thought to my proposal?" She asked, looking at Eleanor.

The midwife nodded. "I have. I actually spoke to J'onn about it, just after you'd had the baby. He said that the DEO would be happy to collaborate if we went ahead with it."

Lena smiled gently. "That's wonderful, I didn't even think to ask him. I'll take that as a yes from you?"

Eleanor smiled and nodded. Lena grinned excitably and took her tablet from her purse.

"Sorry, what are we talking about?" Qua-ruug asked interestedly.

"During my check-ups with Eleanor while I was pregnant, I broached the idea of setting up a hospital that caters specifically to aliens. National City General is wonderfully equipped, of course, but what about ailments that can't be treated in a human way? I proposed that myself, Eleanor, and the LCorp medical division work towards filling that niche.

"I had intended to have a team do all the necessary medical research themselves, I never considered asking the DEO for their assistance – but it would certainly make the whole process a lot easier."

Eleanor nodded in agreement as Lena tapped away on her screen. "When things start becoming more concrete, you could help to spread the word!" She smiled at Qua-ruug, and he seemed interested by the idea, nodding.

"Perhaps you could assemble a security team for the premises?" Lena asked. "A location that caters primarily to a marginilised group will always come under scrutiny from bigots, it would be good to have a head of security I can trust."

He seemed quite touched at this, and set his hand on Lena's. "I'd love to. Please, let me know when you're ready for my help, and I'll put my best to the task."

The building Lillian had gone into was empty, no exit other than the way she'd come in. Alex was there with Maggie and a crack team – she considered this to be personal, as Lena was family now, and she wanted only the best with her.

They were about to leave when Maggie took a few steps forward, then turned her head curiously.

"Did you hear that?"

"What?" Alex frowned.

Maggie hushed everyone, and took a few steps backward when all was silent. There was a miniscule creak as she did so.

The team stepped back as she started to roll the rug up. It was heavy, and Alex helped her while another agent pulled furniture out of their way.

Underneath, they found a trap door.

Alex and the team started to open it and do a sweep, while Maggie turned and looked through the windows.

"Doesn't like there's anyone down there," Alex told her. "Watcha lookin' at?"

Maggie pulled the dusty curtains open (the place hadn't been lived in for nearly ten years), and gestured across the street. "That place over there? It used to be a speakeasy. My great grandpa went there all the time, there's pictures of him in front of it. They would have used this tunnel to smuggle booze in, and customers out whenever the cops came calling."

Alex looked at her with wonder in her eyes.

Maggie almost blushed under her girlfriend's gaze. "What? I know stuff," she shrugged, then turned back to the team. Half of them had gone to follow the tunnel. "I doubt Lillian will still be in that building, she'll have used it as a diversion. I bet she didn't think we'd find her passage." (Alex stifled a childish snort). "Vasquez, get back to LCorp and start looking at cameras across the street."

Agent Vasquez gave Maggie a _look_ , then looked at Alex.

"You heard her," Alex said, a little warning in her tone.

Once they were back in the SUV, Maggie took Alex's hand. "What was her problem?"

Alex shook her head. "You're NCPD, Vasquez doesn't see you as authority over her."

Maggie smiled slightly. "Maybe you should poach me." Alex frowned at her. "You know, scoop me up. Steal me away from the NCPD and into the DEO?"

Alex thought for a moment. "I don't know if J'onn would allow that – our relationship and all. I could put your safety above others', because of it.

"We work together all the time..." Maggie said, squeezing Alex's hand.

"Yeah, and sometimes I let myself be distracted by checking you're okay... Besides, if we worked in the same place, our relationship would take a toll. I knew a couple, they owned their own business and they worked together all day, then they'd go home together and have nothing to talk about, because they had the exact same day. They split up for a while, but when she got a different job they got back together. Working with your spouse can ruin a relationship, and I don't want that for us."

Alex had gotten quiet, focusing mainly on her driving, but also on Maggie's hand in hers. Maggie squeezed it. "Okay, _spouse_."

Alex laughed at this, and chanced a glance sideways at Maggie, who was grinning playfully.

Lena ran a few more errands while she was out – picking up some shopping and checking in on other subdivisions of her company. When she finally returned home, she found Kara in the kitchen, with Sabine in her chair bouncer, batting at the colourful toys dangling above her.

"Something smells good," she smiled softly, putting her bags down and giving Kara a kiss on the cheek.

Kara shrugged, a shy smile on her face. "I wanted to do something nice. Sabine has been quiet ever since Eliza left, she must have done something right, so I figured why not."

"And you're actually using the oven, instead of your eyes?" Lena questioned, putting the shopping away.

Kara laughed as she looked through the oven door to check on the food. "Yeah, I figured I don't wanna give the little one any ideas. If I use heat vision in front of her, I'm worried she'll think 'can I do that?' and then try it. Not something we need right now," she said, pulling Lena in for a proper kiss. "What was the emergency?"

Lena sighed heavily and scooped Sabine up into her arms. Kara knew this meant bad news.

"My dear mother, she's stolen the plans for the detection device."

Kara stared at her almost disbelievingly. "How on earth did she manage that?"

Lena shook her head. "The guard on duty last night, he claimed he didn't remember a thing. I yelled at him for almost five minutes before he started to cry and admitted she'd paid him off to turn a blind eye. He's in custody now."

The seriousness of this breach was almost lost on Kara, seeing as Lena was looking lovingly at Sabine and using her baby voice as she spoke, which made Sabine giggle happily.

"Wow..." Kara sighed, getting the cutlery out and plates down. "What's being done?"

"Alex and Maggie are leading a team. Qua-ruug is outside, he's insistent we aren't left alone."

"He remembers who I am, right?"

Lena smiled slightly. "Yes, but we don't know if CADMUS has any more Kryptonite, it's better to have him here seeing as all three of us are vulnerable to it."

"Why don't you invite him in?" Kara asked, opening the oven and taking out a huge and perfect lasagne with her bare hands (luckily, Sabine wasn't looking). "There's enough to go around."


	12. I Want My Life So Bad

Kara found she was actually quite annoyed at herself after inviting Qua'ruug for dinner. She'd planned on bringing up a move to their own little house, she even had some printouts of houses for sale, hidden in a DEO folder.

She decided to bring it up at breakfast the next morning, so to make it slightly more special she flew to Paris and picked up some croissants from Lena's favourite patisserie. She then figured she would swing by Brazil to pluck some fresh Plumerias, and when she arrived back home Sabine had started crying and Lena was just stirring in response.

Kara left her to sort the baby (she was probably hungry), and went about preparing the little round dining table they had.

She placed the fresh plumerias in the center, with the box of a dozen patries next to them. She set out two plates, poured two glasses of orange juice, and took the DEO folder from her hiding place (on top of the kitchen cupboards).

Lena strolled out of the bedroom wearing only her pyjama bottoms. She was cradling Sabine in one arm (who was feeding) and she pushed her hair back with her other.

"Wh... What's this in aid of?" She said, confused at Kara's display. She leant down and sniffed the patries warily. "Are they from-"

"Lemarié, oui." Kara's pronunciation was impeccable. They spent so much time together with Lena on maternity leave that Kara had been picking up the nuances of language whenever Lena was on the phone.

Lena took her seat opposite Kara and grabbed one. She moaned as she bit into it, eyes rolling upwards. Kara grinned at her, and Lena spoke through a mouthful of croissant. "Oh, you're so good to me..." Then she spotted the flowers.

She was still chewing, so Kara explained. "Plumerias, I picked them this morning."

Now, Lena narrowed her eyes. "What are you up to?" She asked skeptically.

Kara grinned innocently and held out the DEO file. Lena looked even more confused.

She set her breakfast down and lay the file in her lap, flicking it open.

Kara watched nervously as Lena turned the pages over.

The superhero had printed out around ten pages, each with a different property on it. A couple were rather grandiose and fairly mansion-like. Kara wasn't totally keen on them but she only had Lena's current home to go off of, and the small mansions seemed like the closest match.

The rest were quite average, ranging from three bedroom to five. (She thought five was a bit presumptuous, but she knew she wanted to raise more children with Lena. If they went through with a move, Kara's next idea down the line would be adoption or fostering.)

A small smile slowly started to find it's way onto Lena's lips, and when she looked up Kara was biting her lip anxiously.

"I, I want us to move in together. I mean, I know we _live_ together and that I've pretty much moved in here, but... My apartment is sitting empty, and it's a really great space and I own it so I could rent it out. It's a studio, I could probably make a lot from some hipster art student..." She trailed off at the grin Lena was giving her. She was rambling.

"Kara," she sighed, still smiling. "I think it's a wonderful idea," she laughed, and looked down at the folder again. "Which one is your favourite?"

Kara jumped up out of her seat in excitement, and crouched next to Lena's side. She flicked through the pages until she found the right one. "I love this one. It's four bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, and look at the size of the garden! When Sabine is older she'll love playing in it, and it's well-concealed with the fences and trees around it so I could even kind of teach her to fly a little!"

Lena scrutinised the sheet, and nodded. "Yeah, I like it. Why don't we see if they have any free spaces for a viewing today?"

Kara stared up at her. "You're sure? You don't just like it because it's the one I like?"

Lena leaned down, and placed a loving kiss on Kara's forehead as Sabine pulled away from her breast. (Kara realised she'd been totally unnaffected by Lena's bare chest all throughout the conversation. She wondered if this was what it was like to be a real adult – more focused on potential property than on boobs.)

"I really do like it, it looks perfect," Lena nodded, picking up one of the hand towels nearby and throwing it over her shoulder to burp Sabine. "Obviously we'll need to decorate it to our tastes. You can have a room for your art, I'll take one for an office, then Sabine can have her own, too!"

Kara's smile drooped a tiny bit, and she thought she could pick it back up before Lena noticed – but she'd caught it.

"What's wrong?"

Kara stood and cleared her throat, fixing her glasses awkwardly. "Well, uh... I kind of," she sighed, and Lena looked at her in concern. "I want more kids," she whispered, not looking at Lena.

Lena remained quiet, and Kara was worried for a long moment. She turned her gaze back to Lena, who was smiling but crying.

"Lena?" She muttered, stroking her love's hair behind her ear. The CEO used one hand to fan her face, trying to stop herself from crying. "Oh, Ley..." Kara sighed, and pulled her into a gentle hug. (Kara knew that 'Laney' was something other members of the Luthor family used for her, so she'd picked her own nickname for Lena).

"You really," she sighed, leaning into Kara's hold, "You really want more kids with me?"

Kara couldn't hold back her laugh, and she nodded against Lena's head. "Yeah, why wouldn't I?"

Lena didn't respond, she just let Kara comfort her until she'd stopped crying.

She passed Sabine over to Kara, and pulled her into a loving kiss, grinning up at her. "I'm gonna shower and get dressed, will you call the estate agent?" she asked, eyes shining more with happiness than with tears.

Kara smiled back at her and nodded eagerly. "Yeah, of course." Lena started to walk back towards the bedroom. "Hey," Kara called, and Lena turned back to her. "I love you."

Lena grinned brighter than Kara had ever seen. "I love you too. Call the agent."

"We have an appointment for two this afternoon," Kara said, hurrying into the bedroom with the baby. She lay Sabine gently on the bed and used her super speed to change into her uniform. "I gotta go, though. I'll try my best to make it back in time, okay?"

Lena nodded in understanding, shared a quick kiss with Kara and watched her girlfriend kiss Sabine's nose, before she rushed off. Lena spotted her through the window, zooming through the clouds.

She decided to take Sabine out in public for the first time. Their trip from the DEO to Lena's home had been in a blacked out car, so no one had seen their beautiful little one just yet. Seeing as they hadn't left their home before, Lena didn't have anything to transport her in, so her first port of call was a baby store.

Literally the moment she stepped out of the car, a huddle of at least ten paparazzi surrounded her.

She held Sabine so her face was hidden in Lena's neck and she didn't have to see the camera flashes this close to her, completely ignored all of them, and strolled into the store.

The shop assistant was a young woman, and she looked completely flabberghasted at Lena's presence.

"Miss Luthor!" she squeaked out, rushing out from behind the counter. "H-How can I help you today?"

Lena smiled softly at her, and Sabine turned her head interestedly at the unfamiliar voice.

"Well," she began, "I haven't been out with the little one yet. I'm finding myself incredibly low on equipment – I don't have a pushchair, a car seat, or anything. We have the home essentials, of course, but if we want to take her out right now it's carrying only – and she's putting weight on fast."

Both of them laughed a little at this. "Of course, I have plenty of products I can recommend. Can I – can I ask her name? She's adorable!"

"Sabine," Lena said, looking at her little one lovingly. "She is pretty cute, huh?"

The young girl, whose nametag stated her name was _Sarah_ , nodded in agreement. "She has your nose."

Lena spent almost half an hour picking out the ideal products, and Sarah was a big help. She even taught Lena how to use all of them. Lena tipped her generously, and as she made to leave with Sabine now secured in her new pram, she could tell there was something the young girl wanted to say.

"Are you alright?" Lena asked gently, touching the girl's forearm.

"I just..." the girl took a deep breath. "When you and Miss Danvers, when you like, came out at pride and were just so publicly together, like there's pictures of you at events and there's no room for argument that you're not together, and... I just wanted to thank you, because that gave me the courage to tell my family about me, and even though they didn't accept it, it made me feel so much better. I moved out, I met a great girl, and I've never been happier. So... thank you."

She became quite embarrassed after blurting all this, and almost started to hyperventilate when Lena pulled her into a hug.

When they parted, the girl was almost crying. Lena had seen enough tears that day, so she wiped them away for the girl and dug into her purse.

She pulled out one of her business cards and scribbled a different phone number onto it, her personal one. "If you ever need anyone to talk to, okay?" Lena said quietly, holding the card out. The girl wiped her own tears this time and took the card, nodding.

Lena gave her a reassuring smile, cupped her cheek supportively, and checked her phone. "I have to go. Don't hesitate to text me or anything, okay?"

Sarah nodded enthusiastically, smiling through more tears. "Thank you, Miss Luthor."

"Please, it's Lena."

She gave Sarah another hug, and the girl gave Sabine a bright smile as they both left.

Her driver had dismissed the paparazzi, but they were still about twenty feet down the road. They snapped away as Lena and her driver installed the car seat. She loaded the carrier and pushchair into the trunk as he cooed down at Sabine, which she seemed to love.

"Where to next, ma'am?" he asked, checking that Sabine was strapped in properly before opening the door on the other side for Lena.

Lena stepped in gracefully, and dug in her purse for a slip of paper. "I just bought some new premises, I have to make sure everything is going okay there. Then at one-thirty I have another appointment, but if you could drop me at home around one I'll drive there myself."

David, her driver, pulled up at the location Lena had given him. After dinner with Kara and Qua-ruug last night, she'd been online and bought up an aging building on the outskirts of the city center. Her people were there now, making sure it was structurally sound and getting started on any building work that needed doing before it was furnished.

She met briefly with the man overseeing the changes, and he assured her the building would be finished to the highest standard before she could complete the interior. David, the driver, stayed in the car with Sabine, as Lena didn't want her around the building site.

When she was finished, David drove her back to the underground parking at her apartment, where they moved the baby supplies across into her sleek black car, and she shot a quick text to Kara asking if she would be on time.

"David, listen," she sighed. "If all goes well at this appointment, I don't intend to continue using your services for personal use. I would of course call on you for galas and other events that require a grand entrance..." He gave her a questioning look. "We're looking at a house," she grinned, letting out a sigh of happiness. "And, I don't know, I guess it wouldn't feel right to have a driver all of the time."

He nodded in understanding and squeezed her hand. "Miss Luthor, I'll always be here when you need me."

They made their goodbyes, and David made a silly face at Sabine before he left. Lena followed suit, checking her phone before she joined the roads.

Traffic was awful, and she rolled into the driveway of the property ten minutes late. She caught a glimpse of red and blue in the sky as she did so, and Kara snuck out from beside the garage before the agent could see she hadn't been in the car.

"Mr Halton, I'm so sorry we're late," Lena started as Kara hoisted Sabine onto her hip, who looked like she was starting to get grumpy from hunger. "Traffic was just atrocious."

The man nodded in understanding, and gestured to the front door. "Shall we?"

Lena nodded, and while he unlocked the door Kara kissed her cheek. "Told you I wouldn't be late," she grinned.

"You were."

"So were you."

"Fair point," she smiled, giving her a quick peck before following Mr Halton into the building.

"As you know, it's four bedrooms, which is more than enough room for your little one. Two bathrooms and a downstairs WC. The kitchen was refitted quite recently. The yard is just touching an acre of land. Please, feel free to take a look around," he smiled politely, and left them to it.

They explored freely, making little comments about what they would put where, which bedroom they would take as their own.

As it turned out, there was an office space just past the living room, with enough room to house both Lena's home office and Kara's art supplies.

When they joined the estate agent in the kitchen, Kara looked giddy.

"What do you think?" She asked, bouncing Sabine as she started to whine unhappily.

Lena took another glance around the room, lips pursed, and then nodded at the agent.

"I think we'll take it."

He clapped his hands together in victory. "Excellent. Would you like to take the paperwork with you to sign at a later date, or are you happy to sign now?"

Lena shook her head. "If you don't mind waiting, I can go through it with a fine-tooth comb right now, it won't take me long."

"Oh, of course, Miss Luthor," he nodded – it had taken him by surprise as he wasn't used to buyers actually reading the contract that well, but who was he to deny her?

She rested on one of the bar stools and started to read through the first page, when she noticed Sabine was whining and reaching for her.

"I'm sorry," Lena sighed, taking the baby. "She's hungry, do you mind?"

"Oh, no, of course. I'll be in the hallway," he smiled gently.

"She's gonna get so fat," Kara sighed once he was out of earshot, smiling as she watched Lena flick through the contract while Sabine fed.

"She's an alien, sweetie, I doubt that very much," Lena muttered, still reading carefully.

Twenty minutes later, the house was theirs. Lena had made a few tweaks to the contract, which Mr Halton had to confirm with his boss. Lena wanted to buy the place outright, and there were a few clauses in the paperwork that would prevent it from remaining theirs if something were to happen.

He checked the sheets over a couple of times, slipped them into his briefcase, and held up a set of keys. "Well, congratulations Miss Luthor, Miss Danvers. It's all yours."


	13. You Will See We Are Blessed

It had taken them almost a week to move in.

The first day was fine, Kara collected all of their emotionally important belongings and brought them to the house herself, along with their technologies.

Then the rest of the week was odd shopping meetings here and there. Whenever they would find time to themselves, something would come up for one or both of them, and then when they found time again they were tired from being called away.

But, eventually, the house was furnished and they could move in – they would tackle decorating by themselves.

Alex and Maggie were the first to arrive for the house-warming party. Alex scooped Sabine up into her arms without hesitation, while Maggie followed Lena to the kitchen for drinks.

"Look at you," Alex smiled, watching Kara as she watched Lena pour three glasses of wine and one peach sparkling water. "All domestic, settled down... I have to be honest, Kara, I never in a million years imagined this kind of life for you."

Kara led Alex through to the sitting room and tilted her head as she sat down. "You didn't?"

Alex shook her head very slightly (Sabine had hold of a fistful of her hair). "I can't explain why... But it suits you. Domesticity."

Kara smiled brightly, and Lena had no sooner touched her behind to the sofa next to her love when the doorbell rang again.

"I'll get it," Kara insisted, squeezing Lena's knee as she stood.

Eliza was with J'onn at the door, Winn and James holding up the rear.

The night was spent laughing, drinking, laughing, a little more drinking, and playing some really lame party games.

Lena didn't touch a drop, which worked great for her and Kara because they both got to witness the drunk antics of their friends.

Long after Sabine had been put to bed, and Winn and James were too drunk for their own good, J'onn stood and made his leave. He took Winn and James with him, promising to get them both home in one piece. Eliza called herself a cab, which Maggie and Alex joined her in.

Once all their guests had departed, Kara pulled Lena into an embrace, kissed her gently, and let her hands slide down onto her ass.

Lena raised an eyebrow at her.

"I think we should christen the house," Kara suggested quietly, as if anyone else would be listening.

The brunette smirked, and shook her head. "I'm too tired tonight... at least for the whole house. Let's just stick to the bedroom for tonight, hm?"

They were lucky Sabine was such a heavy sleeper.

Finally, they pulled on a few pieces of clothing each and cuddled up in their new bed, in their new bedroom, in their new home.

They drifted off easily.

Until Kara awoke with a jump. She prodded her phone to check the time. Three in the morning, the time Lena had become accustomed to waking to see to Sabine. It was odd, though, as Lena's side of the bed was cold. Faintly, Kara could hear a whisper. She strained her ears to pick up on it... Downstairs, in the kitchen... Lena. Calling for Kara, her voice quiet and strained and pained.

Kara was out of bed like a shot, and used her super speed to make it downstairs – but the closer she got to the kitchen, the slower she became, until she was stood at the door and starting to keel over.

Lena was on the ground in front of her, reaching out for something. Kara followed her gaze.

At the door to the yard stood Lillian Luthor, Sabine cradled almost lovingly in her arms – almost.

In her hand she held a glowing green crystal.

She tossed it over Lena and it landed at Kara's feet. She dropped to her knees immediately, gasping for breath as Lillian turned and exited into the rainy night.

Sabine did not like the rain.

She began to wail as it sprinkled over her, despite Lillian's best efforts to shield her face from it.

Her cry, it awoke something in her mother.

Lena, still affected by the Kryptonite, grit her teeth and used the side to pull herself up off the floor.

She staggered to the door, pulled it open with more strength she could ever dream of having, and ripped it off it's hinges.

She staggered out into the night, the rain picking up speed and lashing against the sides of the house as thunder rumbled in the distance.

"Let her go!" she called out. The storm seemed to rile with herself.

Lightning flashed across the sky and Lena felt more power flowing through her veins than any Kryptonian pregnancy could possibly have given her.

Lillian turned on the spot, soaked to the bone from the heavy rain, Sabine still wailing in her arms.

In the kitchen, Kara had managed to skirt around the Kryptonite gem, and she was now kneeling powerlessly and pained at the broken back door.

Lena was a good twenty feet ahead of her. Lillian a further ten. Kara could see the outline of a gun strapped to Lillian's hip. She could do no more than frantically press the hidden button in her watch as Lillian drew it, but Lena stood firm.

Kara had alerted J'onn to their being in danger, but she was useless as Lillian raised the sidearm and aimed at Lena's chest.

"I told you," she called out through the storm, only just heard over Sabine's cries. Kara wondered how much Kryptonian power Lena still held, if she could just resist a couple of bullets while a DEO team scrambled to their location. "I told you that you would need your family, and you rejected me. Now, I'll take your family for my own. No doubt she'll be a far more obedient daughter than you."

Kara could hardly believe that Lillian didn't hesitate pulling the trigger twice in succession. Firing at the girl she'd raised for almost twenty-five years? She had no heart.

But Lena still had hers. Both shells ricocheted off of her chest as she stood her ground.

Lillian fired again. Lena's skin rejected them again, and this time she started to lift into the air, absolutely drenched in only her oversized Harvard shirt.

Lena continued to rise, and Lillian fired until the cartridge was empty. Every bullet bounced back from Lena. Kara couldn't see her face but she could feel the storm in her heart.

Lillian's face was fearful, now, at seeing her daughter possessing these alien qualities she'd always despised.

The whirr of helicopters drew nearer, and weak spotlights filled their garden. Kara watched clearly as Lena flew forwards and slammed her fist into the ground, much like Kara had done on many an occasion, not two feet from Lillian.

The DEO choppers were in place above them, spotlights shining into Kara's eyes.

In a flash of what Kara presumed to be remnant super speed, Sabine was suddenly cradled against Lena's chest and Lillian was on the ground ten feet further away.

She scrambled to her feet and, with another fearful look back at the girl she'd raised, ran full pelt into the woods behind their home.

A spotlight followed her, and Kara hoped the heat sensors had started working again.

Lena turned around to face her. Kara was still breathless, though she could no longer tell if it was the Kryptonite or Lena's heroic save that was causing the most of it.

There was a darkness behind Lena's blue irises that Kara had never seen before, and hoped never to see again.

Lena raised one hand in Kara's direction, palm out. Kara nearly vomited as the Kryptonite gem flew over her head and into Lena's outstretched palm. Sabine cried more, until Lena raised her hand to the sky. The glowing gem flew steadily upwards, floating gracefully through the ring of DEO chinuks. Lena splayed her palm and the gem flung itself up into the sky.

Kara felt the weight on her chest lift. She was still weak, but she managed to pull herself up with the doorframe.

Lena dropped onto her knees, Sabine still cradled against her as her free hand hit the muddy ground.

DEO agents began dropping from the choppers. One band of merry men went trekking into the woods after Lillian.

Kara threw herself across the yard and dropped down in front of Lena. She lay a hand on her cheek and pulled her face up to look into her eyes.

The darkness Kara had seen was no longer present, replaced by fear and shock. Lena was taking deep breaths, shaking madly from the cold, from her drenched tshirt sticking to her skin, from her sopping hair stuck to her face.

"You are amazing," Kara managed to whisper, before a second troup of DEO agents – including J'onn – ushered them back inside.


	14. I Grew Up Overnight

By the time all three were dried and into clean clothes, Alex and Eliza had returned to the property. J'onn had called them when Kara had yelled at him.

"Kara, listen to me. You need to go and be treated at the DEO!" Alex told her loudly (she didn't consider it yelling).

Kara turned on her with one of those looks in her eyes that said she was angry, absolutely fuming, but she was being calm about it. It's the worst kind of rage Alex has ever been faced with, and it's especially jarring for it to have come from her adorable baby sister.

"This," Kara said, voice shaking a little. One hand was balled in a fist by her side, the other was pointing at the floor of the room. "This is our first night in our home. I will not leave this building until nine in the morning _at the latest_. Lillian Luthor is not going to spoil this for us, do you understand?"

"Kara -"

" _Do you understand_?"

Alex nodded in defeat, holding her hands up in surrender.

J'onn hadn't been totally clear over the phone, so Eliza had grabbed her medical kit just in case. She was currently checking over Sabine, who hadn't left Lena's arms since the incident.

Lena herself had been quiet and reserved. She hadn't said a word to anyone. Kara had helped her dry herself off and change, and now she sat in the corner of their sofa, close to the fire as she could get. She had been staring ahead blankly, but now she paid full attention to Eliza and Sabine.

"She's alright," Eliza assured her gently, giving Lena a smile she hoped was reassuring. "Her vitals are all normal, she's perfect, as usual."

Lena just nodded. Sabine turned her head repeatedly against Lena's chest, and she fed her without regard for the DEO agents milling about the room. Eliza squeezed her knee as she stood.

"She's a little shaken up," she said quietly to Alex, Kara and J'onn, wringing her hands together. "The last thing she needs is to be plucked up and moved back to the DEO."

Kara had her arms folded, staring over her mother's shoulder at Lena. "Whatever came of Lillian stealing the detector plans?" she asked, glancing at J'onn to show her question was aimed at him.

He shook his head. "We found them just sitting there, on a box in that old speakeasy the hidden hallway led to. We think she just wanted to show us... That she could do it, if she wanted. Get in without being noticed, and get out with her prize."

"Handy of you to mention that earlier in the week. Oh, wait..." Kara drawled sarcastically.

Her mother gave her a look, and Kara sighed heavily.

"What happened to her out there?" Eliza asked gently, looking around between them.

Alex held up her tablet and showed the footage taken from the choppers – Lena ascending in the air, surrounded by wind and rain and light, her baggy grey shirt proudly stating 'harvard' in big red letters. Lena hitting the ground and not a moment later having Sabine in her grasp, Lillian flying through the air and landing dully, before scarpering.

"This, what is this?" She asked, watching the playback of Lena seemingly summoning the Kryptonite and banishing it into the sky. "That's not a Kryptonian power I've ever seen," she whispered. "And besides, this long after the birth? There's no way it's residual, those bullets should have hurt her. She shouldn't be able to fly like that."

"What will you do?" Kara asked, arms dropping to her hips. Alex noted it was the most comfortable version of the hero pose Kara had ever done.

Eliza ended up taking some of Lena's blood – after a few trial and error attempts. The needles kept breaking against her skin. It was only when Dr Danvers aquired a diamond-tipped needle that it worked.

Kara's brain was working overtime trying to figure out exactly what had happened with Lena.

"Will you leave that with me?" she asked, pointing to the tablet in Alex's hand. "I need to look some stuff up."

It was four thirty by the time Lena spoke. "I'm not leaving," she had said simply, interrupting another argument about whether or not they should be at the DEO.

Kara tilted her chin up victoriously. For her, that settled it.

J'onn convinced her to allow guards all around the perimiter. Someone radioed in that Lillian was nowhere to be found, and Alex was sure she saw Lena cradle Sabine closer.

When their home was empty again, Kara crouched down in front of Lena. She set her hands on both her knees, swiping her thumb gently back and forth. "Let's go back to bed," she muttered softly. Lena nodded, and let Kara guide her upstairs. She lay on her back in bed, Sabine flat out on her chest, and she wasn't sure either of them had slept when the sun started to rise.

Kara got up first. When the scent of bacon and eggs drifted it's way up to her, her stomach gave a growl so strong it woke Sabine.

They ate breakfast in silence. Lena was just about to ask Kara to refill her coffee. She glanced over at the coffee pot, and remembered the events of the night, where she had _willed_ the Kryptonite gem to come to her.

She didn't will it to, but now the coffee pot did the same. It wobbled through the air until it set itself between the two women.

Kara was mid-chew.

"Did-" she swallowed thickly and sat up straighter. "Did you do that?"

Lena nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I think so." She looked up at Kara, seeing a dribble of ketchup at the corner of her mouth. A napkin leapt into action, dabbing at Kara's lips for her and wiping it away.

Lena held back her smile.

Next she glanced down at Kara's shirt, willing the buttons to slowly come undone one by one. They did as instructed.

Kara found herself frantically trying to do them up again, and this time Lena couldn't supress her little laugh.

Kara grinned when she heard it, and the dishtowel fell from the air onto the floor when Lena looked at her.

Lena finally refilled her coffee and pursed her lips. "What's happened to me?" she asked quietly.

Kara got up and retrieved the DEO tablet from their sitting room. She tapped a few times, then turned it to face Lena. "I think I know."

It was a fact file. The title read 'Adastreans'. It was about a type of Alien that had been catalogued a few times on Earth.

"Late bloomer, I guess," Kara supplied quietly. She let Lena take the tablet, and whisked Sabine out of her arms. "I'm gonna bathe her... You read up," she added, kissing Lena's temple and disappearing upstairs.

 _Originally from the planet Khera, Adastreans are similar to normal Kherubims bar one fact: they possess psychic abilities. Adastreans resemble regular humans in physiology, and thus are able to pass as human in day to day life. Adastreans are, for lack of a better word, immortal. They live incredibly long lives and are practically impeterbed by damage. Adastreans' powers are listed below:  
_ _ **Enhanced Senses**_ _: Their hearing and sight is significantly more precise than a human's, enabling them to pick up on the smallest of sounds from an incredible distance.  
_ _ **Enhanced Healing**_ _: On the off chance and Adastrean does become injured, they will likely heal in a ridiculously short time. Some have been known to heal within moments of damage.  
_ _ **Enhanced Durability**_ _: Adastreans resist your average bullet, but some have been known to take damage from armor-piercing rounds.  
_ _ **Enhanced Speed  
Telekinesis and/or Telepathy  
Enhanced Strength:**_ _Most Kherans can lift/press up to two tonnes of weight with little effort.  
_ _ **Flight**_ _: This particularly ability amongs Adastreans seems incredibly rare, and most often has occurred when an Adastrean mates with a differing species.  
The last known adastrean was Lady Charis, more commonly known as Nemesis. Her last stand was taken in County Donegal, Ireland, in 1972. Nemesis' body was never recovered and as such, is not presumed dead._

Kara returned, then, with Sabine bathed and dressed in clean clothes.

"You think I'm one of these... Adastreans?" Lena asked, cradling her coffee even as it was going cold.

Kara nodded, Sabine facsinated with her hair. "I knew I'd seen your bone structure before," she said softly. Lena raised an eyebrow. "My father took me to Khera when I was a child. Adastreans have a very distinct facial structure. I don't know how I didn't notice before."

Lena scrolled on the tablet. There was a sepia photograph of Nemesis, stood atop a pile of rubble with a katana in hand.

She looked the way Lena had, the night before. Stormy. Powerful. Long black hair, high cheekbones, a slight neanderthal brow... Kara could very well have been right.

"I – I really don't think I'm an alien, Kara," Lena said quietly, pushing the idea away if only because of how she'd been raised.

"Maybe not totally... But somewhat. You had x-ray vision while you were pregnant, right?" Lena nodded. "That's not a power Adastreans have. That's for sure a Kryptonian one. You haven't had x-ray vision since Sabine was born, have you?"

Lena frowned. "No, I tried to use it a few times but I couldn't."

Kara nodded. "Here's my theory: your eggo got preggo, and that anaesthetic kickstarted Sabine into giving you a taste of Kryptonian powers. Your native powers start to brew underneath, because they're so similar. Then when you were giving birth, you remember that last push that knocked you out?" Lena nodded again. "Lightning struck the DEO. You wake up, you still have super hearing. You've been pretty physically strong ever since. Then last night, it was stormy again. The thunder crashed and our baby cried."

Kara hesitated here.

"I watched you change. The Kryptonite stopped working on you. I saw the fire in your heart and the power in your eyes as you protected the one thing we love most when I was unable to."

They watched each other for a few moments, until the tablet pinged with a notification.

"It's my bloodwork," Lena said, opening the file Eliza had sent over. She closed her eyes and held the tablet out to Kara. "I can't read it, you do it."

Kara shfited Sabine so she was held with one hand, and took the device with her other.

She didn't say anything as she read through the documents carefully.

Lena opened her eyes when she felt Kara's gaze on her.

"You're sixty-seven percent Adastrean."


	15. We Are Your Children

That afternoon, Kara took Lena and Sabine into the DEO to be fully checked over, and to assess the breadth of Lena's powers.

Lena still seemed to be a little subdued, trying to cope with the knowledge that she had one alien and one human parent.

DEO agents she didn't know were the ones who guided her through her assesssment. Kara was under lamps that mimicked the sun so she could recharge her powers, Sabine lying on her chest to experience it too.

Once Lena's assessment was over, she took Winn aside in the DEO cafeteria. They sat together, and she took a while to talk – she was on good terms with Winn, but they'd never really spoken alone like this before.

"I read the file about Adastreans," she finally began, toying with her food. "It said that Lady Charis faced her last defeat in County Donegal..." Lena's accent started to seep through the more she spoke. "And seeing as I'm an Adastrean, it seems reasonable that she could be my mother, or related in some way, especially seeing as County Donegal is where I was born. I... I'd like it if you would research my birth parents for me. Find out if there's anyone for me to speak to. Would you do that for me?"

Winn nodded. "Of course, Lena, yeah. Of course I would do that. I'll get started right away," he promised. He squeezed her hand and got up, taking his lunch tray with him and hurrying to his desk a few floors away.

Kara and Sabine soon joined Lena in the cafeteria, and Kara pulled her girlfriend into a loving kiss.

"How did it go?" she asked as she sat next to Lena. She rested her hand on her thigh.

The brunette cleared her throat. "I can fly, presumably due to the cross breeding. Telekinesis but not telepathy. They said about half your strength, maybe more. They shot me a couple of times with different bullets, and the armour piercing rounds did damage, but I healed within half an hour and it doesn't even hurt now. I'm fast, but, nowhere near yours or the Flash's speed," she nodded, picking up several fries and stuffing them in her mouth.

Kara grinned. "That's awesome, I'm glad you're durable," she nodded, stealing a few fries for herself and earning a slap on the wrist.

"It is kind of cool, I guess," Lena nodded, but she looked up at Kara with an odd expression. "I dread to think how powerful Sabine will be one day. Two parents with near identical powers, how strong will her own be?"

Kara laughed slightly as she looked down at the baby in her arms. "Did I forget to tell you that she broke my finger the other day?"

"What?!"

Kara laughed again and looked back up at her love. "Yeah, she was doing the grip thing, really really hard. Snap. It's fine, it healed and I told her off for it. She just laughed at me!"

Lena laughed too, now, and slipped one arm through Kara's, resting her head on her shoulder.

They ate in silence, only this time it was far more comfortable than their breakfast silence. Kara continued to steal Lena's fries. "You're not the only one who has to consume ten thousand calories, you know!" She berated jokingly.

Another comfortable silence. "I've been thinking," Kara began.

Lena scoffed. "Don't do that too often, will you? I'd hate for you to pull a muscle."

Kara ignored her and continued. "Would you... would you like to fight crime with me?"

The corner of Lena's mouth twitched upward, and she looked at Kara. She seemed to be mulling the question over.

"Who would take care of Sabine while we were busy? What if something happened to the both of us?"

Kara clearly hadn't thought about this. "She could be in DEO care while we're fighting... And if something happened to both of us then..." she thought intently. "I would want her to be placed in my mom's care, if you would be happy with that. If there's anyone who can raise an alien, it would be Eliza."

Lena picked at her food some more. "I'll think about it."

This obviously wasn't a no, and Kara grinned brightly. "Winn would be so happy to make you a costume, and we could give you a little mask or something that goes over your eyes so people don't know it's you, because obviously you've only recently been wearing glasses and people know what you look like-"

"Kara," Lena said, cutting her off with a kiss as well as her name. " _I'll think about it_."

When they were back home later that day, they decided it was time to decorate Sabine's room. Kara was laying the soft, baby blue carpet they'd picked out, with Sabine in her bouncer chair in the corner of the room. Lena was holding a coffee but hadn't taken a sip yet, she seemed to be staring off into space.

"Nemesis has a sword, a katana," she started, jolting Kara out of her focused DIY headspace. "Swords are pretty cool. I wouldn't want a katana though... maybe a broadsword."

Kara stood up and brushed the carpet fibers from her jeans, grinning brightly. "You're thinking about doing it."

Lena wrinkled her nose and nodded. "I'm gonna regret it so much," she laughed. "The sword thing would take a long time to train with... but I'm still pretty skilled with hand-to-hand, and I can always carry a firearm if I need to."

"You're _going_ to regret it?" Kara asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "That means you're going to do this! You're gonna fight crime with me!"

Lena laughed and Kara pulled her into a tight hug, picking her up and whirling her around a couple of times.

Sabine giggled from her spot beneath them. "I've got a few ideas for my costume..." Lena admitted. "I was hoping you'd draw them for me?"

Kara nodded enthusiastically and stroked Lena's cheek. Her other hand took the coffee from Lena and placed it on the windowsill. She leant in, kissing Lena lovingly and gently biting her bottom lip.

Lena sighed into the kiss and slipped her arms around Kara's shoulders, while Kara's hands moved to her hips.

When she opened her mouth, Kara let out that incredible moan Lena had become so accustomed to. She moaned in response, and felt one of Kara's hands slip under her paint-splattered baggy shirt. With Sabine being such a hungry child, Lena always chose to forgo bras whenever she was at home. Kara loved this about her.

Lena broke the kiss when she felt a pinch. "I told you, not the nipples," she giggled. "Do you really want breastmilk all over you?"

"If it's good for Sabine..." Kara muttered, but couldn't keep her laugh away and stepped back from Lena, looking at her lovingly. "I can't wait for her to move onto formula or solids," she laughed again.

"Just so you can touch my nipples again?" Lena grinned, and Kara nodded.

"What can I say? They're great nipples," she shrugged nonchalantly, going back to finish off the carpet laying.

Lena wiggled her toes against the softness of it, retrieved her coffee and knelt down next to Sabine. She played with her while Kara finished her job, and she watched when the blonde stood up and proudly admired her work.

"I'm pretty good at this decorating thing," she sighed, looking around. "Maybe you can be National City's new hero. I'll start a renovation business," she joked, crouching next to her love and their little one. They shared a few more gentle kisses, and Kara felt her heart swell with love as Sabine giggled at them both, kicking her legs happily.

"I love you," Lena sighed happily, resting her forehead against Kara's and closing her eyes in contentment.

"I love you too, you gorgeous alien."

Lena laughed and opened her eyes, one hand drifting out and stroking Sabine's ever-growing black hair.

Over the next couple of months, Lena sparred at least once a day with Kara or J'onn, either at the DEO or in their expansive yard, while Alex or Eliza kept an eye on Sabine.

Winn was still working very hard to track down at least the human member of Lena's parents, but it was proving incredibly difficult. With the amount of money the Luthor family had, they were able to turn a regular closed adoption into a file that didn't seem to exist. Every path he went down led him to something different, something useless.

Lena and Kara had now decorated their office space – Lena had an ornate mahogany desk at one end of the small-ish room, and Kara had her easel set up by the french doors that opened into the yard.

Kara had not only done an incredible painting of the night Lena activated her abilities – floating in the air, spotlights surrounding her – but she also had a lot of detailed sketches of Lena's chosen outfit.

She'd gone with a similar shape to Kara's Supergirl costume. She'd chosen a stormy grey long sleeved shirt with red detailing around the hemming. Instead of a skirt, she'd picked tight pants. The belt separating her torso and legs was a deep blood red to match the detailing, and there was a small, red, embossed House of El sigil on her upper left breast.

Kara had absolutely _insisted_ on a cape, and Lena spent almost a month disagreeing before she finally gave in. It was black, but the underside was the same blood-red that detailed across her costume.

Winn had started preparing it for her, but with his myriad of other tasks now he worked for the DEO it was taking him some sweet time, so Lena was unable to be Kara's sidekick just yet.

Kara hated it when Lena referred to herself as her sidekick, but truly it was the only way to describe her at first. Kara was only putting up with it because she was adamant that Lena would make a name for herself as a hero.

Lena was, of course, still working slowly on the opening of her alien hospital. A few more finishing touches, a handful more staff and it would be ready. Sabine came with her every single day, when she would go to the premises and oversee the progress as well as fill in any paperwork.

They already had an extensive clientele waiting for their care to be officially transferred, all thanks to Qua-ruug's circle of friends.

Another month rolled by and it was time for the opening ceremony. Until now, the name had been kept under wraps.

Clark had agreed to come as Superman to pull the cover off of the sign over the front doors, and to make an example of being the first patient treated there.

With the news cameras watching, he flew up a dozen feet and slowly pulled away the sheet over the sign.

 _Olympus General Hospital_.

He admired it for a moment then dropped to the ground and shook Lena's hand formally. Lena cut the ribbon in front of the doors and he strolled through casually.

ater, when Kara was handing out drinks back at their home, Clark cleared his throat and stood up.

"If it's alright with everyone, there's a few things I'd like to say."

Kara, Lena, James, Winn, Maggie, Alex, Eliza, J'onn, Lois and even Sabine all turned to look at him expectantly.

"First of all, I'd like to thank Lena for the dedication she has put into her wonderful idea. I will always be happy to lend my insight into any issues your medical teams struggle with, if need be – though, Kara is undoubtedly far more knowledgeable." There was a smatter of polite applause for Lena, which dissipated quickly, but Sabine remained clapping happily in Kara's lap.

"Second, there's something I would like all of you, as my family, to know."

From her spot next to him, Lois reached out and took Clark's hand.

"After the incredible success you two had," he said, gesturing to Kara and Lena, "Lois and I were inspired, and felt assured that we would be safe. We're having a baby. Sabine will have a cousin of her own soon."


	16. Straight For The Knife

Lena's outfit wasn't completed until Sabine was reaching nine months old, and she didn't want Kara to see it just yet. On Winn's advice, she'd changed the stormy grey to black, and her cape was now dark grey on the outer side and still blood red underneath.

They'd moved the House of El sigil to the back, underneath her cape, so that if someone was looking close enough they would see it.

She'd gone with a mask that covered only her eyes. To keep it on during fights, she'd had the tops of her ears pierced and the studs she wore there were actually hard drive magnets, so that the mask wouldn't come off until she took hold of it.

She and Kara were sparring at the DEO one lunch when the news came in – a bomb had gone off at a local elementary school.

Kara left without a backward glance, but Lena hesitated. What if she failed?

Winn hurried up to her.

"There's been a second explosion," he told her, and watched her internal struggle.

Was she really ready for this? Could she really, really fully embrace the fact that she was an alien? Could she put on a cape and a mask and put herself in danger for the greater good? Could she risk never coming home to Sabine, or to Kara? What if she wasn't tough enough?

"Lena," Winn said quietly. "If you're going to do this, do it _now_ ," he urged.

She changed as quickly as she could before launching herself off the balcony.

When she first started training her powers, she would practice flying a few nights a week, whenever she couldn't sleep. Sometimes she would float up into the sky with Sabine in her arms to quieten her cries. But knowing she was heading for trouble, knowing that she was _needed_ where she was going, it made it feel so different, so much more urgent.

She may have practiced flying, but she'd neglected to practice anything other than a gentle landing – so she crashed, forming a small crater underneath her in the courtyard of the school.

Supergirl was hurrying screaming children from the building in front of her, and Lena made her way over. "I'll get them out, you control the flames!" She practically ordered.

She had taken Kara by surprise, but the blonde grinned brightly at her and looked down at the children. "She's with me," she promised them before taking off to focus on the damage to the building.

The teachers helped Lena get everyone to safety, and she made sure they were all accounted for in the field opposite the school. A class worth of students and a small handful of teachers were injured, but thankfully no one was dead. The emergency services had just arrived and Lena started to co-ordinate with them, but she had to stop mid sentence.

There was a scent in the air that she recognised, but couldn't place. Turning to look at the school building, she saw Kara struggling under the weight of a beam. Her advanced sight allowed her to practically zoom in on the scene, and she could make out a person standing in front of Kara with a glowing green blade.

Lena was off like a shot, sword drawn and held out at the masked man. She stood between him and Kara, the kryptonite no longer affecting her in the slightest.

He seemed taken aback by this fact, the idea that her strength was still undeniable even when faced with what should have been her weakness, too.

"Your mother sends her regards," he sneered, drawing his other hand out of his coat pocket. It was holding a detonator, and Lena's stomach dropped when she realised it was a dead man's switch.

Both women watched his grip on it begin to loosen, and Kara had barely blinked when Lena was stood in front of her now, holding onto a severed arm still clutching the detonator, the man knocked out on the ground.

"Supergirl, let the beam go and let's get out of here," she said, placing her own grasp on the switch and removing the severed hand from it.

"I can't."

"I got the blade far enough away from you, you'll be okay," Kara shook her head.

"The class turtle," she said, straining under what was now the weight of the whole building. She used her foot to gesture behind her, where a shattered glass cage lay on the floor. Lena rolled her eyes and the creature flew into her free hand. Kara grinned. "On three?"

They both exited just before the building collapsed, landing gracefully across the street. Kara took the turtle and ran towards the kids, asking who wanted to take care of him.

Lena very carefully handed the device over to the bomb squad, before she joined Kara with the children, who were showing her how to _properly_ handle a turtle.

She watched the blonde lovingly for a few moments, then felt a tug on her cape. She looked down, seeing a little girl with dark hair, dark eyes and dark skin looking up at her, amazed.

Lena crouched down and took her hand gently. "You alright?" she asked softly, tucking some of the girl's singed hair behind her ear.

"Thank you for saving us," she said, voice slightly hoarse from the smoke and debris in the air.

Lena shrugged a little. "It's my job."

"I've not seen you before," the girl commented, looking down shyly. "When you landed, my friend Jessie thought you were bad 'cause you're wearing dark colours." Lena went to speak, but the girl – who couldn't have been more than ten – cut her off. "But we've been reading about the wizard Merlin, and you remind me of his friend Morgana. Before she turned evil, obviously."

Lena smiled, she could see that this girl was obviously very intelligent for her age. "Well, the way I always saw it is that Morgana was a girl with a good heart, but circumstance pushed her to make the wrong choices." She took the girl's hands in both her own.

"Promise me you won't make the wrong choices?" she said quietly, and Lena nodded.

"I promise," she swore, and the girl pulled her into a hug. "What's your name?"

The girl pulled back with an almost cheeky grin. "Morgan."

Lena made a playful surprised face. "Well, isn't that something? I suppose you would be _deeply_ offended if I took the name on, then..." she sighed dramatically.

The girl started. "Like for your superhero name?!" Lena nodded, pouting deliberately and looking at the ground. "You don't have one?!"

She shook her head sadly. "This is my first rodeo."

"Then it's decided!" Morgan grinned, jumping up and down slightly. "Your superhero name is Lady Morgana!"

Lena's heart swelled and she smiled brightly. "Well, if you're sure..."

Morgan nodded emphatically. "Don't you worry, I'll make sure everybody knows!"

She hugged Lena again and ran off to join her friends and teachers as parents started to arrive. Lena stood, and found Kara next to her.

"Well, _Lady Morgana_ ," the blonde grinned at her. "Looks like you've made a new friend."

Lena gave her a playful shove. "Race you back to the DEO?" she suggested, wanting nothing more than to shower Kara with kisses, but not wanting to do so in public in case Kara was uncomfortable with that.

"On three-" Supergirl started, but Lady Morgana was already up, up and away.

With a laugh and a final wave at the excited children, Kara followed.

She touched down on the balcony at the same time as Lena, and slipped her arm around her girlfriend's waist as they entered the building.

"Wait," Kara frowned. "Did you not pick up the guy?"

Lena furrowed her brows. "I thought you got him?"

Kara's mouth dropped open sadly, and Lena shoved her gently. "Kidding. I dragged him out. Might have been a little too rough with him... NCPD has him in cus-"

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?"

Alex was storming towards them both, hands balled into fists and swinging at her sides as she marched. When she reached them, they settled on her hips and her angry look was more than enough to have both heroes cowering under her glare.

"You cannot just go out on a mission without telling anybody that you've suddenly decided to be a superhero, _Lena_!" she berated, and Lena leant back a little as if it would free her from Alex's wrath. "What if something had happened out there? What if you never came back? What if Sabine never saw you again?!"

"I-"

"We could have lost you. It was stupid and reckless and I can't believe you didn't think to tell anyone!"

"Alex?" J'onn said gently, stepping between her and the heroes. "She... she did tell us. We've had the conversation, Lena is prepared to put her abilities to use to protect the people..."

Alex seemed to calm a little but her angry gaze didn't stray from Lena. "Why did nobody tell me?"

J'onn looked over his shoulder at both girls. "We were afraid you'd react... like this."

She frowned deeply, and Eliza approached from behind her with Sabine in her arms. "Look who's back!" she grinned.

Sabine held her arms out for Lena with an excited giggle, knowing who she was even with her mask on. Once she was held on Lena's waist she rested her head in the crook of her mother's neck.

"See?" Kara smiled, reaching out and squeezing Alex's wrist. "We're all fine, we're all healthy and not hurt. This is gonna be a good thing, Alex, I can feel it."

Alex still seemed hesitant, but she had calmed down greatly.

"And besides..." Kara sighed, turning to look at Lena. "You can't deny that she looks absolutely fucking incredible..."

"Kara!" Eliza scorned, gesturing to Sabine (she was at the age where she'd start picking up words and trying them out for herself).

"Well she does! Look at her!" Kara grinned, looking pointedly at Lena's behind. "I'm so lucky!"

The group headed down to the control room to meet Winn, who had four different screens up showing news coverage of the incident.

"-and just who was the mystery woman beside Supergirl?" one reporter was asking the camera.

An excitable "Excuse me, mister!" came from off screen, and the camera panned down to little Morgan. The reporter crouched just as Lena had earlier. "She's not a mystery woman," she stated simply, as if she were shocked he hadn't already heard her name.

He raised an eyebrow and glanced at the camera. "You know who she is?"

Morgan nodded. "I helped her pick her name!" she smiled, looking incredibly proud of herself. "Her hero name is Lady Morgana! She's amazing and she's my new favourite hero!"

"Well, you heard it here first, folks. Our mystery hero is in fact _Lady Morgana_ ," he smirked a little, as if it was funny, but Lena just grinned up at Morgan's smug face. "Thank you for speaking with us, sweetie," he said to her softly.

"You're very welcome, mister," she nodded formally, then went skipping off out of frame to her friends and parents.

"Lady Morgana," Winn repeated, tapping a few keys and bringing up the hashtag on twitter. "Better than anything we came up with... and you're trending!"

Alex was looking at one of the screens, a news channel still replaying the footage of Lena and Kara saving the day. "I guess you _did_ do really well," she grumbled, still unhappy. She turned to look at Lena. "But if you ever die, I'll kill you."

Lena didn't need Kara to lean in and whisper _"That means she doesn't want you to die,"_ for her to know that, but she appreciated it nonetheless.

"You two in the mood for an armed robbery?" Winn asked, not even looking up from his computer.

Both women peppered Sabine's cheeks in kisses and took off again. "I'll take that as a yes."

Once they were in the air above the jewellery store, Kara squeezed Lena's hand. "Go. You got this."

Lena furrowed her brows. "What? No, you're coming with me."

Kara smiled supportively. "I'm sure you're more than capable of handling a good old-fashioned jewel heist. I'll be up here if you need me. Go."

She gave Lena's shoulder a squeeze, and it was just enough support for her to drop down to the ground dramatically. Apparently she had a knack for forming craters upon landing.

She drew her blade – it was a standard sword, one plucked from the DEO armory, and she intended to have her own forged – and started walking towards the store, cape billowing behind her.

Using her speed and great sight, it was as if time had slowed. She felt like she was moving with the breeze as she used her sword to block each bullet fired at her, ever advancing on the five armed men she faced down.

Kara watched proudly from above as her love overwhelmed them.

They seemed to have ran out of bullets, and Lena held her sword out to the side of her. Her left hand came up into the air. She made a small motion with it and the bulkiest of the five was plucked up into the air like a puppet on a string. She held him there for a few moments, then threw him against the brick wall behind him, knocking him out cold.

Two of the remaining four advanced on her. "Didn't anyone ever tell you not to bring a knife to a gunfight?" one of them asked from behind his ski mask.

Lena grinned slyly and put her fight skills to the test. She disarmed them both easily. One ended up with a gash from his shoulder to his opposite hip, the other had cuts up and down his arms, of varying length and depth.

The third man to advance on her drew a dagger from his belt, and she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Mine's bigger," she said, twirling her sword in a circle

They began their fight, and just as Lena started to win the fourth theif jumped into it. He threw her off just enough for the smaller blade to be plunged into her shoulder.

She grit her teeth through the pain and continued to fight.

The fourth man had been rather scrawny, and Lena threw him off easily, her left hand held out and choking him through the air.

She plunged her blade straight through the thigh of the third. He gave a cough and a splutter and fell backwards onto the ground.

Lena sheathed her sword awkwardly, dagger still sticking out of her shoulder.

In the corner of her eye she could see news crews surrounding her. Her shoulder angled so their cameras would pick it up, she reached up and slowly drew the knife out of herself with a groan.

She tossed it on the ground at the feet of the owner, and felt the itch and burn that came with her wounds healing themselves.

Lady Morgana turned and offered the news crews a proper look at her, before she launched into the air.

She flew circles around Kara, laughing happily.

"That was awesome!" Kara grinned at her, turning in the air to follow Lena's path. "You did so good! That was some Darth Vader shit down there!"

"Where do you think I got the idea?" Lena laughed, taking Kara's hand and pulling her to head back to the DEO.


	17. You And Me Forever Girl

Kara and Lena's home was finally complete another month later. Between running a company, being a reporter, being parents and being heroes, they'd somehow managed to find the time to decorate.

Lena was in the kitchen, Sabine in her high chair, now moved onto semi-solid food.

The first time she'd tried the 'here comes the airplane' trick, Sabine had very gently taken hold of her mother's hand and laid it softly on the tray of her high chair, then giggled and clapped to herself.

Kara couldn't stop laughing for almost five minutes at watching their daughter's heroic save. Lena had settled since for just asking Sabine to open up and eat her food.

Olympus General was a great success amongst both humans and aliens – Lena had made sure that their emergency room was available for ambulances from all hospitals, to ensure care from wherever was closest. Sometimes she would personally fly aliens from incidents to Olympus after saving the day.

Lena was heading back to work today, and since she couldn't bear to part with Sabine she decided to take her into the office with her. She strapped her into her car seat while Kara climbed into the passenger side.

"Thanks for taking me," Kara smiled softly. Just the night before she'd blown out her powers in a huge fight, and they were yet to return.

"It's on my way," Lena shrugged, starting the engine.

Rock music started to play through the car stereo, and Lena turned it down slightly.

"What is this?" Kara asked incredulously (she very rarely spent time in Lena's car, while Lena would drive Sabine places instead of flying her, afraid of giving her ideas).

"Green Day..." Lena muttered, frowning as she reversed out of their driveway. "You don't like it?" she asked, as track fourteen started playing. She bobbed her head a little along with it.

Kara was grimacing, picking up the album case and reading it.

 _'I'm not fucking around_ ' the first lyric played.

"Horseshoes and Handgrenades... What kind of music are you letting our daughter listen to? Don't you have any NSYNC?"

Lena stopped at a traffic light and turned her head slowly to look at Kara, looking like the mere suggestion was a personal affront to her.

"You want to play _NSYNC_? In _my_ car?"

Kara was the picture of innocence. "Backstreet Boys? Westlife?"

Lena looked like she'd never heard anything so offensive in her entire life. "I can't believe I'm in a relationship with someone who likes _Backstreet Boys_!" she laughed, eyes on the road.

"I just can't believe you let Sabine listen to something so loud and angry like this song!" Kara said, trying to hide her smile.

"She loves it, look at her," Lena grinned, glancing in her mirror. Kara turned around to look at the little one. Sabine was staring out the window, watching the colours go by, but her head was nodding and her legs were kicking in time with the music.

"There's nothing wrong with a little punk rock," Lena chided playfully. " _I'm gonna drink, fight and fuck,_ " she sang, grinning sideways at Kara. " _I'm pushing my luck all the time, now_."

Kara is quiet for a moment before she bursts out into laughter.

"What's so funny?" Lena grins, pulling up on the street about a block from the CatCo building.

"I'm sorry," Kara sputters through her laughter. "But you can't sing to save your life!"

Lena's jaw dropped, looking dramatically offended. "Oh, and I suppose you have the voice of an angel? Don't get me wrong, your pride performance was great, but it was pretty loud in there and I could barely hear you."

Kara pursed her lips with a small smile and pressed pause on the ridiculous rock song. She unclipped her seatbelt and leant into Lena's space, then cleared her throat.

" _You pull my pin and you trip my wire_ ," she sang, smiling. " _Yeah you come in and set my heart on fire! You knock me out, you rock me off my axis, you and me are gasoline and matches_!"

Lena could only raise both eyebrows and let out a soft sigh. "Alright, point proven..." she muttered, and pressed her lips to Kara's lovingly. Kara giggled and kissed her a few more times. Her hand opened the car door behind her.

"Bah, mama!" came a little voice.

Both women turned to look into the back of the car in shock. Sabine was waving emphatically at Kara.

"What did you say?" Lena asked, heart beating rapidly.

Sabine just repeated herself. "Bah, mama!"

Kara clenched her fists in victory. "Yes, Alex owes me twenty dollars!"

Lena couldn't decide which to be more shocked about – Sabine's first words, or Kara's statement.

"You were betting on her first words?"

Kara grinned sheepishly. "We were betting on who she would speak to first – I bet she'd call me mama first, Alex bet it would be you."

Lena closed her eyes and took a breath. "You're gonna be late," she finally sighed, unable to stay mad at Kara for long. They shared a few more chaste kisses, then Kara climbed out. She opened the back door and peppered Sabine with kisses while she giggled excitedly, then waved Lena off as she drove away.

"Mama!" Sabine repeated a few minutes later, as they headed towards L Corp.

Lena looked in her mirror curiously, and Sabine was looking at her now. The little one pointed at the controls for the stereo and Lena grinned.

"Who needs NSYNC, right baby?" she laughed, starting the song over.

"Miss Luthor," Jess said, standing up behind her desk as Lena exited the elevator opposite, Sabine perched on her hip. "I didn't know you were bringing the little one!" she grinned.

Sabine waved at her excitedly, and Lena strolled into her office like she'd never even left it alone.

"I can't bear to leave her," she said, and stopped in her tracks as Winn stood up from her sofa. "Winn, what are you doing here? Is something wrong?"

He shook his head, a DEO file hugged tight against his chest. "I found them."

Jess excused herself silently, and Lena furrowed her brows.

"Your father. I found him."

And so it was that not long after Sabine turned one, we see our leading family stepping off of an LCorp jet in Dublin.

Kara had suggested they fly themselves, but Lena didn't want Sabine to get ideas about using her powers before they were able to talk to her about keeping them a secret.

Now that she could fly herself, though, and now that she'd dealt with the traumatic memory of Elizabeth-Sabine's death, she was no longer afraid of aircrafts.

They were met by a very lovely welcoming committee, and Lena's natural accent slipped comfortably into place. Kara could barely understand a word that was being said by anyone other than Lena, but she nodded and made noises of affirmation whenever she felt was appropriate.

The next day, they were sitting in a little coffe shop. Lena was twiddling her fingers nervously while Sabine sat on Kara's lap, playing quite happily with the chunky crayons the owners had given her, only able to manage scribbles but enjoying herself nonetheless.

An older man entered, the bell above the door chiming to alert Lena to his presence, and she stood suddenly.

He looked at her, and his fearful expression turned into one of affection and love. Slowly, he made his way through the cafe and towards their table.

He stopped just short of Lena, looking her up and down, unsure of what his next move should be. He didn't know if he should hug her, shake her hand, or what.

Lena's eyes were brimming with tears.

The man's hair was grey, he clearly hadn't aged well, but he was freshly shaven and groomed.

"Lena," he finally sighed, taking hold of her hands in each of his. "Look at you..."

Lena threw her arms around him and held him close, and he seemed lost for what to do for a moment before melting into the embrace.

When they pulled back, he was crying openly, and he cupped her cheeks. His hands were calloused but warm. "You look so like your mother," he laughed quietly, sniffling.

Sabine made a noise, and he turned his head to look at her and Kara – who still looked very nervous.

"Mr Loughlain, it's a pleasure," she said, standing up and passing Sabine to her other mother.

He shook his head. "Please, it's Connor... You're Kara, right?" she nodded. "Lena's partner." she nodded again.

He hesitated but pulled her into a hug anyway.

They resumed their seats and his loving gaze fell to the little one.

"And this is Sabine?" he asked Lena, glancing up at her.

Sabine looked very wary of the strange new man who was talking kind of funny, but he made a funny face at her and she giggled.

"Your granddaughter," Lena supplied quietly, watching as Connor wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his sweater.

He looked around at the three of them. "What a beautiful family you make," he sighed, and reached out to touch Lena's cheek again. "I can't believe you've come home. I never thought I'd see you again."

Lena reached up and took hold of his wrist, leaning into his touch.

He composed himself when a waitress came over to take his order, and he couldn't help but keep switching his gaze between all three of them.

"I nearly didn't come in," he admitted after his tea was delivered. "I saw you. Through the window. It was just like when I first saw your mother."

"How did you meet her?" Kara asked, one hand holding onto Lena's.

He took a sip of his drink and thought for a moment. "The library, in my town, it had big glass windows to let natural light in. I was walking by, one day. I saw her sitting there, absolutely engrossed in one of my favourite books. I thought she was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen.

"I walked past that place every day on my way to work, and she was always there. Always in the same spot, nose buried in a book. She went through them like nobody's business, one morning she'd be starting one, and when I went by at lunch she was finishing a different one.

"And one day, my mate Ronan, he forced me to go inside. I asked her out for drinks. I swear I wet meself doing it," he laughed. "And she was daft enough to say yes. We were together for years after that."

" _Were_ together?" Kara pried gently.

He nodded sadly. "We split up when Lena would have been about seven. At that point, it wasn't healthy for us to be together. She was... _different_ ," he said, not knowing how much Lena knew about her mother.

Lena's hand came out of Kara's and she held it over his tea. His spoon raised itself into the air, settled into his cup and started to stir of it's own accord.

"Different like that?" she asked quietly. He nearly cried again as he nodded.

"After we had you," he started to explain, cradling his drink for warmth, "She wanted to be _normal_. She wanted to be a regular mother, like everyone we knew. She wanted to be human.

"The only thing she could do to dull her powers was to drink, to take pills. She went too far down the rabbit hole... You have to understand, Lena, giving you up... It was the hardest thing I ever had to do. I couldn't raise you by myself, I had the same problem as her. I had to do what was best for _you_ , for _your_ future, and that meant sending you away."

Lena nodded her understanding. She shared a glance with Kara and took one of Connor's hands in her own. "I know, I know you did what was best for me."

He steadied himself for a moment. "We tried to make it work, after. Tried to go to rehab and all of that, but we were no good together at that point. She felt... She felt I'd betrayed her by letting you go. But if I hadn't," he sighed deeply. "You wouldn't have this life. This beautiful family.

"I got clean," he continued. "Once we broke up, rehab was a lot easier. She never wanted to do it, she didn't want to be an alien any more, and booze was the only way she could do that. I moved on with my life."

It was then that Kara noticed the white gold wedding band on his left hand.

"I have a wife, now. We've got about six dogs," he laughed.

"You never had any other children?" Lena whispered, to which he shook his head.

"Vanessa can't have kids," he explained softly. "And even if she could, I never wanted more. I never thought I'd be able to love any child as much as I loved you. I thought about you every day."

They finished their drinks in comfortable silence, the only sounds being Sabine babbling to herself.

"Charis is clean now, too," he finally sighed. "I called her the other day, asked her if she wanted to come today. She said she was working."

Lena shook her head, as if to clear it and make sure she'd heard properly.

"Sh- she's alive?" she mumbled.

He pursed his lips in a smile and nodded. "She's up in Cork. Works for a construction company. Of course, she has to pretend she's not as strong as she really is. She could put those houses up in a matter of seconds if left to her own devices."

Lena took a few deep breaths to steady herself. "She couldn't come?"

Connor took her hands. "If she could be here, I'm sure she would be."

Kara repeatedly tapped her hand against Lena's upper arm. "Uh, guys? We've got trouble."

She gestured to the TV mounted in a corner, which was displaying an alien beast trampling through Merrion Square.

Lena sighed dramatically. "We leave a city full of aliens and crime, travel across the world, and aliens still manage to follow us," she groaned. "Surely we can't just go out there? What will people think to National City's heroes suddenly appearing in Ireland?"

"You go stop it," Kara suggested. "I'll stay here with Beanie and Connor," she said (she'd taken to calling Sabine _Beanie_ ).

Lena worried her lip between her teeth. "Go, babe. I'll text Alex, tell her you might be seen here. We'll figure something out."

She gave each of them a kiss on the cheek before rushing out the door.

"National City's heroes?" Connor asked in confusion. Kara just grinned and looked back at the TV, where Lady Morgana was landing gracefully on screen.

Sabine looked up at it, too, and pointed excitedly. "Mama!"


	18. Your Blade It Shines

Lady Morgana didn't fight the beast.

She recognised it from a DEO file, and knew that it's diamond-tipped tail was one of the few things that could actually do real damage her.

She focused first on getting civillians out of harm's way, and once they were all home free she landed in front of the creature.

It reared it's head angrily at the figure blocking it's path.

Lena put one hand out in front of her, breathing deeply to calm her own nerves.

She slowly got down on one knee, maintaining eye contact with it. Then she dropped her gaze to look at the floor in front of her.

The beast stepped closer. A front leg came into view, and Lena saw that a metal fence post was sticking out of it, a fresh wound.

The creature was around twice her size. It reminded her of an oversized naked mole rat, only with far deadlier teeth and a cruel snarl.

She kept her gaze on the ground, felt warm breath tickling her outstretched hand as the creature sniffed it.

She lay her hand gently on it's nose, which felt like oily snakeskin.

Her thumb gently caressed it, and the beast sighed slightly. Lena raised her head and looked it in the eye once more.

"I want to help you," she promised softly.

Armed men now surrounded them, about fourty feet from her position – they looked to be a counterpart to the DEO.

She stood slowly. The beast didn't wince away from her, and she brought her other hand up to it's snout. She stroked gently, and it exhaled again, a whine of pain laced within it.

Lena moved slowly, her hand trailing toward the shoulder of the creature, stroking gently.

Her hands found their way to it's leg, and it whined as she caressed the area around the wound.

"Breathe," she said, more to herself than to the poor creature, but it seemed to take her advice anyway and let out a deep sigh.

In the same moment, she tugged the metal rod out of it's leg with great strength. It roared in pain, and she closed her eyes, wondering if she were about to be swallowed whole.

She felt that wet nose nudge against her hand again, and opened her eyes. The beast looked incredibly grateful, and lay down on the ground in an act of submission.

She turned to the armed agents, her hand still on the snout of the beast. "Put your weapons down," she ordered them.

They hesitated, but once a few had obeyed the others followed suit – except for the one woman who was clearly the team leader.

"That monster decimated a landmark!" she yelled out, gun still aimed at it's head.

"It was in pain," Lena insisted. "Look at him," she sighed, crouching next to the wound that was still bleeding. "He's probably been living his life quite happily, and he got hurt. Have you never stubbed your toe and hopped around your living room spitting expletives?" she asked.

Before the woman could respond, another agent came forward, holding out a phone. She took it reluctantly.

When she hung up she looked incredibly anrgy.

"Stand down," she ordered her people, as if they hadn't already. "Get the beast some medical care," she ground out, and Lena smiled softly.

"Don't worry, I'll handle it," she assured.

Kara, Sabine and Connor rolled up to the park now, and Kara gave her a little wave from the other side of the barricade as Lena started to more closely inspect the wound.

Sabine whined unhappily in Kara's arms, and wiggled her way out of them to land without a bump on the ground.

"Beanie!" Kara said, watching her little one toddle off towards Lena.

The armed agents held Kara back, but seemed to be paying no mind to little Sabine as she ran giggling toward her mother and the beast.

Lena was just wondering the best way to go about tending to the wound when her little girl bumped into her.

"Mama?" she asked, and Lena looked at her in confusion, wondering how she'd managed to make it all the way over to them without being stopped.

Sabine held onto Lena's arm tightly, and knelt down awkwardly.

She reached out and gently patted the creature. It watched her, but paid her no mind as she stroked it.

"Sweetie, you shouldn't be here," Lena whispered, stroking her hair back and tucking it behind her ear.

Sabine just gave her an innocent smile. She leaned forward, placing her tiny hands on the gaping wound in the creature's leg. It whined unhappily, but Lena watched as Sabine traced each cut, carefully moving closer and closer to the center of the wound.

The skin stitched itself together at her touch, the blood retreating back into the beast's body. It was as though there had never been an injury in the first place.

Lena remained frozen in shock, staring at the spot that had so recently been so gory.

The creature turned it's head and nuzzled it's large snout against Sabine's abdomen, it's way of showing thanks. She giggled and fell forward, hugging it.

It raised it's head and she held on tight, laughing as it stood now at full height. Lena stood slowly, too, watching it gently sway her little girl back and forth as she laughed and laughed.

Kara finally pushed her way through the guards and ran over to them. She stopped next to Lena as the beast bent one knee and touched Sabine's feet to the ground. She clambered off of it's nose and watched as it turned around.

"Bye bye!" she waved, and the creature bounded away, then jumped up with great force into the air and disappeared as though it were going through a letterbox.

Kara and Lena stared at the spot it had disappeared into, eyes wide, Sabine just stood next to them gazing up at the sky.

"What the actual fuck?" Kara whispered.

The next day, the news was everywhere that a hero from National City had helped an injured creature, aided by a strange little girl. Thankfully, Sabine's face had been hidden from the news cameras that had surrounded them, so no-one had yet made the connection that she was, in fact, Lena Luthor's daughter.

Alex had already yelled three different times at Kara over the phone, berating her for letting Sabine out of her hold when they didn't know what the creature had been capable of or if it would hurt her. Kara had given up on explaining that she tried to keep hold of Sabine but that the little one wasn't having it.

As it turned out, the call taken by the team leader yesterday had been from J'onn. He was the one who started international divisions of the DEO, and as her superior he had informed her that the situation was under control.

Connor was absolutely amazed by his daughter and her abilities. It had taken him a few minutes to click that he was seeing Lena on the TV screen in the coffee shop, but Sabine's cheering had been very helpful in him working it out.

Kara figured she'd leave her own secret identity for another time.

The four of them were at lunch, sitting at a table outside a restaurant. Sabine had taken very easily to her new grandfather, and she was sitting on his lap as they ate together.

Kara had already finished her mountain of food, and she was sitting relaxed, her arm around Lena's chair.

She looked around, appreciating the scenery and architecture, when her gaze was drawn to a woman sitting on a bench nearby.

She had a magazine open in her lap, but she wasn't looking at it. She was focused deeply on watching Lena eat, smile, laugh. She didn't even notice Kara staring back at her.

"I'll be back in a moment," Kara said, kissing Lena on the cheek and standing up.

Lena's attention was focused on Sabine and Connor, so she didn't see Kara make her way over to the woman until she sat down next to her.

Kara gently prised the magazine from the woman's hands. It was an old issue of CatCo Magazine, featuring a photoshoot Lena had done with an article about her. The pages featuring Lena were foxed at the edges, where they'd been turned and read so many times.

Kara closed it and lay it in her lap. The woman had tears welling in her eyes.

"I saw Lex Luthor on TV, once," she muttered, and Kara listened carefully. "A press conference, or something. There was a girl standing behind him, and I knew it was her. I just knew."

Kara hesitantly lay her hand on the woman's wrist. "She wants to meet you."

Charis shook her head. "She's better off without me."

"You're her mother."

"I'm a monster," she sighed, hanging her head. "I'm... I'm a creature from outer space... What would she possibly want to do with me?"

Kara couldn't hold back her laugh. Charis looked up at her in confusion. "Didn't you see the news, like, at all yesterday? The Nulhea beast in Merrion Square?"

Realisation dawned on the older woman's face – though she looked no more than thirty-five. She looked over at Lena again, who had Sabine stood on her lap. "It was her?" she asked, taking a deep breath and wiping the wetness from her eyes.

Kara nodded. "I'm an alien, too," she said quietly. "You've heard of Supergirl, right?"

Charis laughed for a moment and nodded. "Who hasn't, why?"

Kara raised an eyebrow at her, and Charis laughed again in understanding. She watched as Lena and Connor played with Sabine, her laugh infectious, passers-by smiling at hearing it.

"Who's the little one?"

Kara slipped her hand into Charis', and put her other on top of it. "That's your granddaughter," she explained gently. "I got Lena pregnant, almost two years ago. Sabine is the best thing that's ever happened to us."

"She's the one who healed the Nulhea, isn't she?" Kara nodded and looked back over at her family.

Sabine had noticed them, now, and was waving at Kara from her grandfather's lap. This prompted Lena to follow her little girl's gaze, and she stood up abruptly just as she had when meeting Connor.

"Come on," Kara prompted, standing up and pulling Charis with her. Kara led her back across the street, and Charis didn't hesitate to pull Lena into a bone-crushing hug.

A week passed, and it was like the group had known each other all their lives. Sabine had taken happily to another grandparent, mainly because she was doted on so heavily.

Charis had been teaching Lena some of her more complex fighting and sword techniques. When the time came for them to return to National City, Charis took Lena's hand in hers.

"I have something for you," she muttered, standing in the lobby of Kara and Lena's hotel before they got in their taxi.

Connor handed her a long, thin box that had been lying on a coffee table nearby. She held it out to Lena. "When I was young, I forged my own blade. This one was my mother's. I want you to have it," she said softly.

Lena hesitated before she let Charis force it into her hands. "It needs a little touching up, but I'm sure you'll be able to take care of it."

Lena held the box to her chest as Lady Charis hugged her tight.

Once she let go, Connor gave her a big hug too. Kara had already said her goodbyes and was loading their luggage into the cab.

"I'm gonna call you both every week," Lena promised, clutching the box tightly. She couldn't resist giving them both another hug. "I love you, mum, dad. Thank you so much for everything you've done for me," she muttered, and when the taxi honked it's horn she kissed them both on the cheek. "I'll call," she promised, then nodded and rushed out the doors.


	19. Watch The Blood Run Through My Veins

_A photo of what I consider Lena's new sword to look like can be found here: imgur a/sTOAY. For reference, the pommel is the part at the butt of the blade as a whole, the part that would be below your hand when you wield it – it's the bit the tassel is flowing from._

Lena refused to open the package until they were back in their own home. Sabine was tired and stressed from the flight, so Kara got her something to eat and cradled her against her chest until she fell asleep.

Lena lay the box down on the coffee table. She clasped her hands together in front of her while she looked at it, and finally crouched down.

She lifted off the lid carefully, and Kara leaned forward to get a better look.

Lena pushed away the fabric covering the blade and it's sheath, and nearly choked on air when she saw it.

It was stunning, there was no other word for it. Absolutely stunning. Charis had been right, it needed a little TLC, but nothing Lena was unprepared to give it.

In a flash, she was gone, and returned just as quickly with the same kit she used to upkeep her other sword. She'd also brought down an old leather purse she hadn't used for years, and a romper of Sabine's that no longer fit her.

"Dare I ask?" Kara smiled down at her, watching Lena lift the sheath from the box carefully.

"The pommel needs a new tassel," she said, not even looking up at her love. "This way, I can have Sabine with me at all times. And I need to change these straps, they're disintegrating," she explained, gently undoing them from the sheath so she could clean and polish it thoroughly.

Kara's heart melted at Lena's explanation for the romper, and she reached out and ran a hand through her dark hair. "I'm gonna put Sabine in bed, and make us something to eat."

Lena just nodded, completely enraptured by the gift she'd been given.

"Nerd," Kara muttered lovingly, pressing a quick kiss to Lena's head as she stood up, then heading for the stairs.

Lena had already replaced the leather straps by the time she returned, having configured them just slightly differently so that they would work better with her costume. She'd taken the original fastenings and cleaned them, then used leather from her old purse to recreate them. The sheath was gleaming, now, and Kara could better see the engravings and markins that flowed up and down either side.

Lena had started on changing the tassel, now, and she'd removed the pommel to do so.

"You broke it already?" Kara grinned, leaning over the back of the sofa to watch Lena cut Sabine's old romper into strips. The torso was a similar blue to the original tassel, and that remained whole, but the legs were a deep red, and Kara presumed Lena was going to braid them to recreate the original design.

Lena laughed, "No, it unscrews!"

When Kara brought in two large plates of food, Lena had been ready to start polishing the blade itself. She took a spot on the sofa next to Kara to eat instead.

"I don't think it's steel, or silver," she sighed, taking a bite of Kara's famous lasagne (she'd become quite the cook ever since settling into family life). "The weight of it is... odd. But the balance is perfect, I'm finding I'm excited for a crime to happen so I can use it," she laughed, looking sideways at Kara, who nodded.

"It's probably an alien metal," she shrugged. "What with the history of Kherubims, it could be from literally any planet. There's a ridiculously high amount of options when it comes to where it could be from."

They ate in comfortable silence, both eyeing the blade with interest.

That evening, Lena had finished sharpening it just in time when both their phones beeped with a text from Alex's DEO phone. Sabine, too, had been entranced by the sword, and she frowned unhappily when Lena sheathed it and stood.

"Duty calls," she sighed heavily (but she was smiling).

"You go ahead," Kara nodded, stretching before she scooped Sabine up. "I'll drop her at the DEO with mom and then come join you."

Lena nodded and, within moments, was changed and giving Kara a loving kiss. She pressed one to Sabine's forehead as well before she ran out the french doors into the yard, and shot straight up into the sky.

Kara changed, too, and grabbed Sabine's little go-bag of anything she might need. She locked the front door from inside and stepped out into the yard, locking the back door too before following after Lena and flying off toward the DEO.

Sabine loved it when they would take her flying. She would close her eyes, held tight against her mother's chest, and feel the wind flowing past her. Kara hadn't spotted a low-flying cloud though, and when they went through it she let out a squeal of discomfort at the water vapour that clung to her.

She was soon dry, though, and waved at Supergirl from Eliza's arms as she launched into the sky.

"What do we have?" Kara asked, landing next to Lena and Alex, the latter in full tactical gear and the former attaching a handgun to her right hip.

Kara couldn't help but smile lovingly at her.

"Hostage situation," Alex explained, hands on her hips as usual as they looked at monitors displaying securty footage from inside the bank. "They're using alien weapons, and Lady Morgana has already determined there's at least three bombs throughout the building."

Kara narrowed her eyes to use her x-ray vision, and had to push past a lump in her throat. "I count ten," she groaned.

"What's the plan?" Lena asked, adjusting her mask so it sat more comfortably.

Alex sighed and shook her head. "We've got a team co-ordinating with the robbers, but if you say there's ten bombs then we need to disarm most of them before we can even think about swarming the place or getting hostages out. The robbers seem kind of dumb, they're making demands but they're not giving time limits,"

"But that in itself could be a problem," Lena continued. "They could get restless and escalate."

"Exactly."

Kara looked between them. Clearly she hadn't watched enough Criminal Minds lately.

"I'll go in there," Lena offered, nodding at Alex. "One of the bombs I saw was unguarded, it wouldn't be too hard to get in and at least take a look at what we're dealing with."

"I don't know, Lady Morgana," Supergirl sighed, touching her arm gently. "There's a lot of assailants in there, a lot at stake."

Alex butted in with her own hand on Kara's arm. "With respect, Supergirl, Lady Morgana is easily the best engineer here. If we can assess at least one device, we'll have a better picture of what's going on here, and Morgana is the best person for the job."

Kara seemed hesitant, but Lena gave her a look that told her she'd already made up her mind. "Just be careful," she sighed, looking over her shoulder at the press that was starting to arrive.

Lena nodded and, knowing they'd chosen not to be physically intimate futher than friends when they were heroes, gave Kara's hand a squeeze before shooting up into the air, out of sight of the cameras.

"I'll co-ordinate with the press," Maggie all but announced herself, coming up to Alex's side. "Make sure they know not to accept any calls from unknowns, the usual."

Alex nodded her thanks and watched as Maggie strolled over to the barrier, her hands out to calm the crowd as they clamboured over each other to ask questions.

Kara had her sight trained on the building ahead, watching with x-ray vision as Lena performed sweeps and clears alone. She'd landed lightly on the roof and was making her way down the building, heading for the staff room where she knew a bomb was sitting unnattended.

She had her pistol drawn instead of her sword, a far better weapon in situations like this.

"Morgana," Kara said, hand on her ear. "You've got a guy coming your way, looks like hes patrolling the hallway in front of the manager's office. There's... there's two people inside the office, one armed and one sitting. Could be the manager as a hostage, we don't have a camera in there."

Lena only nodded, knowing Kara could see the movement.

When she neared the hallway, she stopped at the corner and waited for Kara's signal to tell her the guard was facing away from her. She holstered her weapon and, with her super speed, put the assailant in a headlock, one arm blocking his airway until he passed out.

She lay him gently on the floor, not wanting to make a sound.

Lena focused her hearing onto the room ahead of her, hoping to pick up something, anything that would prove useful.

" _You're watching Channel Five, live at a hostage situation inside the local Bank of America branch. As you can see on screen, Supergirl is watching the building closely. Lady Morgana was here just minutes ago, but no one has seen her since."_

Lena's heart lurched as she heard one of the men's own heartbeats pick up in anger.

She had never been more glad that she and Kara had picked up ASL for situations like this.

 _They know I'm here_. She signed, hearing footsteps come closer to the door.

She used her speed to disappear back around the corner at the other end of the hallway.

"I'm gonna find that bitch, and I'm gonna slit her throat like the beast she is," he snarled, yanking open the door. "Jenson, guard the – Jenson!" She heard him rush to the unconsious man's side, and presumed he'd gotten onto his own comms. "Man down, repeat, man down."

Now, Lena had started tinkering with toys lately. She was beginning to consider herself the Batman of National City (she knows it's cocky).

So she unclipped an experimental smoke grenade from her belt, and looked at it for a moment. It wasn't complete, she hadn't tested it properly yet... But it was her best chance at getting the manager out alive.

She heard the man start to approach, pulled the pin, and tossed it around the corner. She had to stifle a laugh when she heard it clunk against his face and drop unceremoniously to the floor, then the familiar hiss of the smoke spreading.

She held her breath against it as she heard his body drop to the floor.

Lena moved ahead and into the office, where the branch manager was also unconscious, slumped in the chair behind his desk. She carefully opened one of the windows, hoisted him up, and tossed him out.

It's fine, Kara was ready to speed over, catch him, and speed off again.

She disconnected both of their comms, and started to inspect the unconscious men.

"This guy is a Navy Seal," she said quietly, and Kara was relieved to hear her voice. "Possibly the leader. The Manager should wake up in about five minutes, find out what he knows. I'm gonna find that bomb."

Kara shook her head. "Morgana, no, you've been compromised and you need to get out of there!"

"I will not leave this building until the people inside it are safe."

Lena made her way down to the next floor, hiding in a store cupboard as one guard passed through the hallway headed for the office.

She made it into the staff room and crouched down in front of the device. It was no bigger than a milk carton, but Lena knew better than to underestimate size.

"Supergirl, can you see it from here? Get your x-ray vision on it?" she asked softly. The lobby was just below her, and while she listened carefully she couldn't risk alerting anyone to her presence.

"Slide the top panel to the right by... two inches, then back left by half an inch, it should come off. I don't see anything that could trigger it when you do so."

Lena tilted her head and did as instructed – something about that movement seemed familiar.

She knew what it was, when she removed the panel, she could place where she knew this from.

"This is one of Lex's," she whispered, leaning down to get a closer look. "I remember, not long before the fight in Metropolis, he showed me one like this. It was bigger, then..." she trailed off, and Kara ran both hands through her hair in stress.

"There's... Oh, god," Lena groaned, sighing deeply. "In a lot of bombs, there's a compartment full of shrapnel, designed to injure anyone nearby just that little bit more. This one has a compartment of small diamond shards."

"Get out of there," Kara blurted. "Get out, now. If they know it's you that's in there they could blow it right now, Morgana, get out!"

Kara watched her shake her head. "No, I can disarm it."

"We're running out of time!" Came Alex's voice. "They've given us fifteen minutes to get their demands before they start killing."

Lena spent a stressful two minutes deactivating the device – Lex had always made them incredible complicated, like puzzles in and of themselves. Certain components had to be moved a certain way before deactivation was complete.

"Good, now get out!" Kara demanded. "We can find another way to save them, if all the other bombs had diamond in you're screwed!"

"You know me better than that, sweetie," Lena sighed almost wistfully, and started to make her way downstairs. "Get the team ready."

Alex hesitated but followed Lena's instructions, and the SWAT team was ready to move in on Lena's word.

"Supergirl, positions please?" Alex asked gently, knowing Kara hated everything about this situation, but hoping she'd follow protocol anyway.

Kara grimaced but relayed angles to each member of the team, hoping it would be enough to combat the alien weaponry if they all had a point and person to shoot at.

There were six assailants inside, and eight SWAT agents ready to move in. Six of them had a static target, while Alex and Vasquez were there to cover any runners.

The team had entered through the basement, and were waiting for Lena's cue at the other end of the lobby.

"On my count," she signed to Kara, who relayed it again to the team.

Hundreds of bullets were fired in the next sixty seconds, and it made Lena sick to see that at least three hostages had been caught in the crossfire. Two SWAT agents were down, one of them dead from a blast to the chest with an alien fusion rifle.

Kara was there within seconds, helping to get the people to safety and the assailants in custody. Once they were clear, Lena rushed off to disarm the rest of the bombs while another tactical team swept the entire building.

Once all the devices were bagged for evidence, Lena flew to Olympus General, keeping low and landing on shaky legs.

She stumbled into the building and Eleanor rushed to her side. Kara was currently ferrying the injured over one by one, not wanting to fly too quickly, so Lena had beaten her here while she carried the third victim over.

"Lady Morgana, what happened?" Eleanor asked quickly, ushering her into a clinic room.

Lena finally let herself cry out in pain. "I – I got shot," she groaned, one arm on her own waist and doubled up in pain.

"But you should have healed by now," Eleanor sighed, getting Lena to climb up onto the bed awkwardly.

"Why do you think I'm here?" the hero snapped, and immediately threw Eleanor an apologetic look.

The older woman washed her hands quickly and pulled on a pair of gloves. She forced Lena to lay back (with a yelp of pain) and took notice of the hole in her shirt, near her hip.

Eleanor tugged Lena's shirt out of her waistband and bunched it up under her breasts so she could get a closer look.

"Looks like the bullet is still in there," she muttered, and took a breath. "This might hurt," she warned.

"Gee, you don't say?" Lena practically growled. The feeling of Eleanor's index and middle finger pushing into her wound was probably the most uncomfortable, nauseating experience she'd had to date.

She watched as the older blonde removed the bullet, and felt relief wash over her – but then she noticed the bullet itself.

"It's-" Eleanor began, but Kara cut her off from the doorway.

"Diamond."

They both looked up at her, and Lena reached a hand out for Kara. She took it and rested her forehead against Lena's.

"The whole thing was a trap for you, I just know it."


	20. Never Gonna Leave Me

_So, you guys... This is it. This is the end. I struggled so much with writing this chapter, and the moment I realised it needed to be the last one was when it all came to me. It feels right to end it here, at chapter 20. I feel I've written all I can for this particular story, but I can assure you I'll continue to write Supercorp.  
Most of this chapter is action-based, which I apologise for because writing action scenes has never been my forte. The end, however, is total and complete fluff and sap. Please enjoy... and please leave comments because they make me happy inside._

Tiny shards of diamond had fractured from the bullet, and Lena had needed a little bit of surgery to remove them. Eleanor was the only person allowed to do so, and the moment she removed the final shard Lena's wound healed up with a heated itching sensation.

Kara helped her to her feet and pulled her into a tight hug.

"I don't wanna hear an ' _I told you not to go in there_ ', Kara," she warned into the embrace, her hands curled up between their chests and allowing Kara to just hold her.

"They would have found another way to hurt you," Kara whispered, "Even if you hadn't gone in."

Lena nodded in agreement and pulled away from the hug to place a chaste kiss on Kara's lips. "Lillian did this, I just know it," she nodded, pulling Kara with her out of the clinic room to the waiting room and towards the doors of the hospital. "I'm gonna find her, and I'm going to put an end to this."

Kara had never heard Lena so determened, so quietly irate. "You can't go alone," she sighed as they stepped out into the night, where paparazzi had been waiting since it got out Lady Morgana had needed treatment. Lena let go of her hand when she saw them, but Kara took it back right away.

"I can't risk you getting hurt, Supergirl," she sighed, knowing there would be news cameras and boom mics and lip reading journalists watching their every move. "We don't know how much Kryptonite she has left. I'd never be able to live with myself if she used it against you – or Beanie."

The last two words were uttered with Lena barely moving her lips.

"Diamond is a lot easier to come by than Kryptonite, my Lady," Kara sighed. "If anyone would be weaker to her, it would be you. And I _won't_ lose you. We go together, or we don't go at all."

Lena sighed in defeat and nodded, standing a little closer to Kara. "Let's get back to base, we can co-ordinate from there," she muttered, and Kara squeezed her hand before they both took off.

"Winn," Lena calls out as soon as she lands, rushing into the control room. "I need you to find my mother. We need a team to look at city-wide footage from up to fourty-eight hours ago and keep watching as time passes. I have to know where she is."

He nodded and took his seat. "I can write an algorithm to filter for her features, we'll use less manpower and more server-power that way," he told her, already tapping away on his keyboard. She squeezed his shoulder in thanks. "Where's Eliza?"

"Break room," he muttered off-handedly, focused on his three computer screens.

Lena took Kara's hand and headed off down a hallway.

As soon as they entered the room, Lena scooped Sabine up in her arms and held her close, peppering her face with kisses.

Kara squeezed Lena's arm and moved toward Eliza, looking at her sadly.

"We need you to take Sabine out of the city," she said quietly, taking one of her mother's hands in both of hers. The older woman made to protest, and Kara shook her head. "No excuses. I don't know how long you'll have to be gone for, but... Until Lillian is caught, until Cadmus is shut down... We can't risk Sabine getting hurt."

Eliza nodded sadly, and watched as Kara wrapped her arms around Lena so Sabine was sandwiched between them.

Vasquez had also been in the room, and she stepped up to Eliza's side. "I'll go with you," she offered. "Keep you two safe, just in case."

"You should stay here," Lena said. "You might be needed," but Kara shook her head again.

"I don't trust any other agent to protect them."

The pair remained cuddling their little one for what seemed like a long time – but it wasn't long enough. They didn't know if they'd return from this fight, and no amount of time would ever be enough if this was the last time they would see their daughter.

Kara was the first to pull away, sniffling a little and stifling tears. "We should assemble a team," she whispered, stroking Sabine's hair back out of her eyes and seeing that she'd fallen asleep.

Lena nodded, quite openly crying, and pressed her lips to Sabine's temple. "Mummy loves you," she mumbled, reluctantly handing the sleeping infant over to Eliza, who held her like she was the most precious thing in the world.

Eliza kissed both of their foreheads before they left the room, with utterances of 'be safe' for each.

Lena slipped her phone from her boot once they were back in the control room, and slipped off down a hallway to make her call. Kara stayed by Winn as she made hers.

"Hey, Cuz..."

Alex had already prepared two SWAT teams ready to move out at a moment's notice – and the moment was now, as Winn came rushing up to Lena. "We got a hit, Lillian just entered the CatCo building from the rear entrance."

Kara took a deep breath and squeezed Lena's hand. She turned to Alex and Maggie, who would each be leading one of the teams. "Move out." She ordered.

Before she could take off out the doors, Lena had hold of her hand and pulled her into a desperate kiss.

"I love you."

"I love you too. Let's go kick some ass."

They landed on the roof, where J'onn and Kal-El were already waiting for them.

"I scanned the building," Clark said, holding the stairwell door open for everyone. "There's still a lot of civillians inside, but every floor has at least one armed guard by each elevator and stairwell. There's no way we can quietly evacuate without causing casualties... We'll just have to be really, really careful."

Kara nodded her understanding, and Lena felt Clark's hand on her shoulder supportively.

"J'onn, can you find out where she is?" Kara asked quietly, while Lena moved quickly around the top-most floor putting guards in chokeholds to knock them out.

J'onn closed his eyes, listening throughout the building, filtering through everyone's thoughts to find the one they were looking for.

"She's in the lower basement," he muttered. "Where the mains for gas and water are."

They made their way down the building with minimal distractions – luckily, one guard was stupid enough to jump into a fight _before_ pressing his panic button, which allowed them to remain relatively undetected.

When they got to the bowels of the building, Kal-El and J'onn remained by the doors, staying to fight anyone who would come down.

When Kara and Lena turned down the hallway that led to Lillian's hiding spot, they were met with almost twenty men. Every single one of them started firing, and both Kara and Lena flung up their capes to protect themselves from the onslaught of bullets.

"What do you say," Lena asked, hearing the slugs ricochet off of her. "Ten each?"

Supergirl shook her head, and couldn't hide her smirk. "Let's tag team it."

Lady Morgana grinned at her and drew her sword as she turned.

There was one man stood quite close, as if he'd been ready to pounce on them, and Kara curled her hand into a fist and brought it to meet his face. There was a sickening crunch, and she tossed him aside easily – where Lena batted her arm and flung him out behind the pair of them, out cold.

She spun as the next guy came at them, slashing across his bulletproof vest with the tip of her blade, just enough to sever it, and Kara landed a harsh kick in the same spot moments later, winding him. Lena slammed the pommel of her sword down on the side of his neck, knocking him to the floor.

They continued like this until only one man remained, but he was far bulkier and judging by the way Kara yanked her hand back in pain when she punched him, he'd been genetically altered.

Kara grabbed his head and yanked it downwards, kneeing him in the face at the same time as Lena delivered a kick between his legs from behind. His nose bleeding and his balls aching, he still fought back.

Utterances and disturbance on the comms distracted them both for a moment, and before she knew it Kara was on her back on the hard stone floor, the guard leaning over her and his hands clasped around her throat.

She struggled to take any air in, and although Kryptonians could last a lot longer without oxygen, the man may very well have been crushing the bones in her neck.

But Lena let out a yell, and his hands went slack. The tip of Lena's blade stopped in the valley of Kara's breasts, dripping blood from where it had been driven straight through the man's chest.

Lena pulled it out with a sickening squelch, and he toppled to the side, dead.

Kara lay there for a few moments, catching her breath and watching Lena as she wiped the sword on the dead man's leg, cleaning most of the blood from it.

Then Lena offered her her hand, and Kara kissed her when she pulled her up.

"Is it bad that I thought that was kind of hot?" the blonde whispered, and Lena laughed but nodded.

"Probably a little weird, yeah."

Lena sheathed her sword and took Kara's hand as they made their way down the hallway to the room housing the gas and water mains.

As soon as they pushed the doors open, bullets were fired, and neither were quick enough to block them.

Kara keeled over with a Kryptonite bullet to the gut, and goons dragged her off to the side.

Lena, who had taken a diamond bullet in the arm, watched as Kara was placed into silver handcuffs with a little green light on, and noted the sheen of sweat on Kara's forehead, her heavy breathing, and the delirious roll of her head as she tried to look around.

No guards came for her, though. Instead, the clicking of heels sounded, and from the back of the room Lillian stepped out of the darkness.

Lena couldn't help the scoff at how cliché that was. The metal doors closed heavily behind her, shutting them both in.

Lena took her hand slowly from her wound and held both up in surrender with a wince of pain.

Lillian was pointing a gun at her chest, and she knew they would be diamond bullets.

"Unarm yourself," the older woman ordered.

Lena swallowed and moved her hands slowly to her right hip, where she lifted her gun out and held it up. She dropped the magazine out of it and cocked it, ejecting the shell from the chamber, then dropped the empty weapon onto the ground and kicked it toward a guard.

She kept her eyes on Lillian's, able to see a struggling Kara out the corner of them.

Her hands moved next to her sword, which she undid gently and held out to her side, where another guard took hold of it.

Her hands lifted up to her face, and she tugged away the mask and tossed it aside.

Lillian wasn't surprised to see Lena under the facade of Lady Morgana.

"You disappoint me, Lena," she sighed, and the hero felt it was probably the first honest thing her adoptive mother had ever said to her.

She lowered her gun and gestured for Lena to come closer, which she did, swallowing thickly. She could see a diamond dagger tucked into Lillian's waistband, and made sure to remain just out of arm's reach.

"You were right, you know," she whispered, her ears picking up some familiar thudding. Lillian tilted her head in confusion. "Two years ago. I _do_ need my family," she nodded, and pursed her lips. Lillian narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "It's a good job I found them."

The doors burst off their hinges. Stood on the other side was Lady Charis, flanked by Maggie and Alex, in turn flanked by Superman and Martian Manhunter.

As bullets began to fire, Lillian took the element of surprise in her favour and grabbed Lena, holding her back to her front with the diamond knife to her throat.

Charis remained still while Alex and Maggie fired into the goons repeatedly, while Clark and J'onn fought around the room to free Kara.

Once the fighting had died down, J'onn stood with Kara in his arms, and Clark had used super speed to handcuff every guard to something or other. Maggie and Alex still stood either side of Charis.

She took a step forward, a deep rage and hatred filling her eyes as she stared into Lillian's fearful ones.

"You've lost," she told her easily. "Step away from _my daughter_."

Lillian's mouth dropped open in shock, but she did not move.

Charis raised her sword, resting it on Lena's shoulder so the tip was mere millimeters from Lillian's neck.

" _Now._ "

Lillian dropped the knife and pushed Lena forward.

Charis kept her there by sheer force of will alone, and Lena took the handcuffs Alex held out to her.

"Lillian Luthor," she smiled softly, coming back to her adoptive mother and standing behind her. "You are under arrest. You do not have to say anything," Kara grinned over at her, still delirious, but loving Lena's sickeningly sweet smile as she read Lillian her rights. "But anything you do say can and will be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney, if you cannot convince an attorney to represent your sorry ass, one will be provided for you.

"Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?" She asked softly, her lips near Lillian's ear in mock affection.

Lillian just nodded, and Lena threw her unceremoniously in Maggie's direction. "Throw away the fucking key," she told Maggie, who grinned back at her and led Lillian out of the room with Clark by her side.

Lena moved next to Kara. J'onn held her a little tighter, and Lena kissed Kara's forehead before pushing her fingers into the wound she'd sustained and gently digging for the bullet.

She grimaced as she pulled it out and dropped it onto the floor.

J'onn nodded his thanks to her, and flew from the room to take Kara to the DEO for treatment.

Lena was left with Charis and Alex, and she turned to her mother and pulled her into a tight hug.

"I never expected you to come," she whispered, feeling Charis rub her back in the same motherly way Eliza did. "How did you even get here so quickly? I thought you couldn't fly?"

"I can't," she nodded in agreement. "But the bairn can."

Lena pulled away from her abruptly. " _Sabine flew to get you?!_ " she yelled, and turned to Alex, who was pursing her lips.

The agent shrugged. "The moment she and Eliza left the DEO, she was up, up and away. We didn't know how to tell you... So we figured we wouldn't! But she's okay!" She hurried to correct at Lena's shocked and worried glare. "She's fine! She's home safe and sound."

Lena stared at Alex in horror, imagining her one year old daughter flying alone across the atlantic in her Frozen romper, and then flying back carrying a grown woman.

"I'm equally impressed and horrified. If she knew what it meant, I would ground her."

Dismantling Cadmus as a whole took it's sweet time, but Lena and Kara managed to get on with their lives while it happened. Jeremiah was home safe and sound, living with Eliza, who had moved to National City to be closer to the family. He still suffered with PTSD, but Alex was there every step of the way.

We rejoin our heroes three years after the battle at CatCo.

"Mia, no, don't touch that!" Kara yelled, running over to the two year old who was inspecting the oven interestedly. She scooped the blonde up, causing her to giggle excitedly and kick her legs. "You leave that turkey alone," Kara warned playfully, carrying her over to the living room.

She placed her gently on the sofa next to two other children. "Sabine, please keep an eye on your little sister," she sighed in exasperation. "And don't let Conner out of your sight."

Sabine shared a glance with her younger cousin, raising an eyebrow the same way Lena does. "Okay jeju." Once Kara had rushed off to set the table, Sabine grinned. "Wanna fly Mia round the yard?"

"Lena!" Clark shouted from upstairs. "Your daughter is being a bad influence!"

Lena just rolled her eyes. "Why don't you take the kids outside and play football with them?" she called back, balancing a ridiculous amount of plates as she made her way to the table and handed them to Kara.

Clark was down in a flash, hands on his hips and a grin on his face. "Who wants to play flying football?!" He grinned down at the young ones. Sabine and Conner clambered to their feet, and Mia toddled down from the chair and tugged at Clark's trouser leg. He scooped her up and they all headed outside.

"Normal football, please!" Eliza called from the kitchen, as Winn and James rushed outside to join them.

Alex and Maggie arrived then, letting themselves in. Alex's gaze landed straight on the open doors to the yard. "Ooh, flying football!" she grinned, and ran out to join the party.

Maggie shook her head and joined Eliza in the kitchen, picking up a pace with her like they'd done a million times before.

Lois came rushing downstairs and out into the yard, where her husband was floating a few feet of the ground with Mia in his arms.

"Clark Kent, if you drop that child on her first family thanksgiving, I will kill you!" Kara heard her yell, and grinned brightly as Lucy started to pour everyone's drinks and set them around the ridiculously large table at everyone's place settings.

"I'm so sorry we're late," Connor called as he strolled through the door with Vanessa, Charis and Jeremiah behind him.

"The flight was delayed," Jeremiah finished for him, heading into the kitchen and reaching for Eliza's glazed carrots only to have his hand slapped away.

"Where's our newest granddaughter?" Charis grinned, clapping her hands together.

Sabine ran back into the room with Mia toddling at her heels – the little blonde had really taken to Sabine, and followed her everywhere they went.

"Grandma, Grandma, Grandpa!" Sabine grinned, hugging each of their legs in turn. She then put her hand on Mia's shoulder and kissed her temple. "She's here, she's here! Isn't she pretty? She looks just like jeju!"

Lena and Kara watched the five of them with butterflies in their chests, and Kara pulled Lena into a loving kiss.

"I'm glad we agreed on adoption," Lena muttered against Kara's lips.

"I'm glad she was already called Mia," Kara sighed in response, turning to look at the little one. "After we had Sabine, and I knew I wanted another, I wanted to call her that, after Jeremiah."

They shared a few more kisses before they were interrupted by Eliza yelling, "Dinner is ready!"

They were bombarded as everyone rushed to take their seats at the enormous table, with Lois and Maggie helping Eliza bring out the dishes of food.

Everyone was seated now except Kara, who remained stood next to her chair at the head of the table. "Before we begin," she grinned, "I have something very important to do." She turned to Lena, who was sitting to the left of Kara's chair. "Lady Morgana... Lena... I love you with all of my heart. And as an alien, it's bigger than everyone else's." The table laughed. "I'm so thankful for you. Ever since we met, my life has been a happier place, and I could never ask for more than that. You've given me friendship. You've given me more family than I could ever have dreamed of having. But most importantly, I think, you've given me your heart. So," she sighed, looking at the floor. Kara dropped to one knee a little too hard – probably leaving a dent in the floor – and slipped a little box from her back pocket.

She opened it and smiled up at Lena nervously.

"Wanna get hitched?" She blurted, if only to break the tension. Everyone laughed, and she decided to go again. "I mean, uh," she grinned, seeing Lena start to nod already. "Will you be my wife?"

Lena threw herself off her chair into Kara's arms, and the whole table cheered.

Kara slipped the ring onto Lena's finger as they knelt on their dining room floor – a white gold band with a bright emerald set upon it – before returning to their seats.

Kara forced herself to tear her loving gaze from Lena to look around the table.

On Lena's other side was Mia, then Kal-El, then Kon-El, then Lois, J'onn, Lucy and James. Eliza sat at the other head of the table. Then Jeremiah; Alex; Maggie; Winn; Connor; Vanessa; Charis and Sabine.

"I'm dreading having you all here for Christmas," Kara sighed, holding her wine glass up with her other hand in Lena's. "This is complete and utter chaos..."

She shared a look with Lena, who smiled warmly at her. "But I wouldn't have it any other way. Happy Thanksgiving."


End file.
